Perfect Mess
by B00kw0rm92
Summary: With Sam recovering and the school's bullying problem having been dealt with, the kids think everything will finally start going right, but they soon discover that even when things seem perfect, they can quickly become a perfect mess. - 'Perfect' Sequel
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note One: **The sequel is finally ready to begin posting! If you did not read 'Scared To Death', you should go back and read it now or things will be confusing. This story is a multi-point-of-view story. Sam is listed because this universe started out revolving around him, but the other characters are getting their turns now. This is an AU Season Three and this universe went AU after 2x10. If you have not read the previous but would like to read this story, I will post a short summary of the events in 'Perfect' in the second Author's Note at the bottom. You might get a little confused at first, but you should be able to pick up soon. Thank you so much to my wonderful beta Joleigh13!

Story Warnings: Child abuse, mentions of child molestation, mentions of racism, eating disorders, serious illness, suicidal themes, minor character death.

* * *

><p>Sam Evans smiled as he headed into William McKinley High for the first day of school. For once, no one in the school would have to worry about returning simply to spend the year being tormented by other students. The year before, Sam and his friends had finally had enough. After putting up with the bullying as long as they could, and after Finn was beaten up, they came up with a plan to put an end to what was going on in the school. Luckily, their plan worked and a much more effective bullying policy was put into place.<p>

He was looking forward to being reunited with the rest of his club. They had all stayed in contact over the summer and spent as much time together as possible, but he was glad that they would soon be seeing each other daily. However, they wouldn't all be together. Santana wasn't yet able to return to school. She had started her Consolidation Therapy the past Saturday and all of them were hoping and praying that she would stay in remission. After everything they had been through together, New Directions was determined to not let cancer take their friend.

The Turner family had begun the adoption process for him and Aiden over the Summer and part of him still couldn't quite believe it. After spending so many years in foster care, it still amazed him that he had finally found a family that wanted him, especially with the baggage he came with now. After months of therapy, he felt like he was really getting better. He had friends and a girlfriend, the bullying had stopped, he was recovering and being adopted and Santana was in remission. For once, life looked pretty good for him.

"Hey, guys!" Sam said as he spotted Finn and Kurt walking through the halls with the exchange student who was staying with them.

"Sam! Are you coming to the choir room?" Finn asked.

"Yeah. What do you think of the school so far, Rory?" Sam asked the Irish exchange student as they walked into the Glee Club's meeting room.

"It seems nice." the fourteen-year-old replied with a shy smile.

New Directions had decided to meet up in the choir room before Glee started, so they could all see each other as well as meet the people they knew would be joining. In addition to Rory, Artie's cousin, Justin, Miles, and Puck's little sister, Sarah, would be joining as well. The new, younger members joining would definitely be good news for the next school year, considering that half of the current club were seniors. The members slowly began trickling into the room, greeting each other with hugs and explaining things to the new members.

* * *

><p>Sarah had a feeling that even if she hadn't loved singing, her brother still would have insisted that she join the Glee Club and she knew that even if she had complained, she would have done it. As much as Noah could drive her crazy, she knew that he was only trying to look out for her. He didn't really have anyone to do that for him, but he tried to make sure that she did, so she did her best not to complain much. However, sometimes his overprotective brother act did get pretty annoying.<p>

She looked around the room at the people gathered there. She knew most of them already, though she hadn't met Justin and Rory yet. Puck had been friends with Finn, Quinn and Santana since he was a kid and the others had been part of his life for two years, or one year in the case of Sam and Lauren. Though Puck rarely brought friends home, he did take her with him occasionally, so she was familiar with the members of New Directions. She thought it was a little odd that there was no sign of the dreadlocks Puck had told her about under Miles' hat, but then again, with the stories she had been told about his parents, it was easy to realize that he had finally been forced into a haircut.

She supposed that it was nice to be able to start High School already knowing so many of the older kids, but that was the problem, they were all older. None of her friends had plans of joining the Glee Club, the notorious unpopularity of the club had scared the ones that could sing away even with the new bullying policy. She glanced back over at the boys she had just been introduced to. Rory had already been introduced to her as another freshman by Finn who had led him around happily introducing him to everyone, even the ones who had already met him.

She knew that Justin was younger then Artie, but she didn't know if he was a sophomore or a freshman. She would just have to find out. He was unusually short, a fact that she assumed was why Artie had been hovering near him at first, until he seemed to realize that no one was going to say anything about it. Short or not though, she couldn't deny that he was cute. She had heard from Puck that he moved in with Artie due to problems with his stepfather, but she had yet to hear the whole story. There was a lot to be curious about with this new boy.

"Hi, I'm Sarah." she said as she walked towards him.

* * *

><p>"Alright, your first class is this way, I'll show you." Finn said as they left the choir room, heading in the direction of Rory's first period class with the younger boy trailing behind him like a puppy.<p>

Finn had been thrilled when his family had decided to take in an exchange student. He had jumped right in with the preparations and when Rory had shown up Finn had instantly taken him under his wing as another little brother. Both Hummel-Hudson brothers had been even further thrilled to discover that the young boy could sing and he had found himself instantly recruited to the Glee Club. Luckily, Rory had found the idea of joining a club with Finn and Kurt wonderful and jumped right on board.

After all Kurt's complaints about how Finn was with him, Finn had found it secretly amusing how quickly Kurt had become protective of their new housemate as well. He had been a little worried for the younger boy when they first arrived at the school. Even with the new bullying policy, he knew that there were still whispered insults in the halls and that anyone different could still be shunned. Rory's face had lit up when heard that Puck's sister was in his grade and he had been beaming ever since Puck had looked over his shoulder at his schedule and commented that he had several classes with Sarah.

Puck had of course followed that statement up by ordering Rory to look after Sarah and Rory had instantly nodded, promising he would and looking mildly afraid of the boy with the Mohawk. Finn had managed to bite back his laughter. Finn had a feeling that Puck would drive Sarah crazy with his protectiveness, but he knew that he didn't have much room to talk anymore. He might possibly have nearly had a panic attack over the summer when Kurt fell off of a ladder that he didn't think the witnesses would be letting him forget any time soon.

* * *

><p>As Brittany made her way to her next class, she couldn't help think that it was weird to be in school without Santana. She didn't like it. Santana was always there to make sure she didn't get lost going to her classes, but now Santana was sick and Brittany couldn't figure out where she was supposed to go. Sam had helped her find her first class, but none of her friends had actually had the class with her. She didn't know where to go now.<p>

Santana had been sick for a long time and Brittany wanted her back. It wasn't just that she couldn't find her classes alone, Santana was her best friend. Brittany got to visit Santana a lot, but they never got to go anywhere anymore. Santana always had to stay in the hospital and Brittany thought that really didn't sound like fun at all. She knew that her friend had cancer and that was bad, but Santana would be okay. She had to be. She was Santana.

Sometimes Santana seemed to be okay when she visited, she looked tired and her hair was gone, but they could talk and laugh and it seemed kind of normal for a little while. Other days though, Santana would be really sick and Brittany didn't understand why it went back and forth like that. It just didn't make any sense. Santana was in the hospital so she could get _better_. The last couple of weeks Santana had seemed a lot better she told Brittany that the cancer was going away. Brittany hadn't understood why Santana had cried when she had said she was happy that Santana wouldn't have to miss the first day of school.

Miles, who had been there as well, had quickly explained that even though she was getting better, she had to keep taking her medicine so it didn't come back again and that it would be at least a few more months before Santana would be back at school. Brittany still didn't really understand it, but she didn't want Santana to cry again. As long as Santana did come back, she supposed it would be okay.

"Hey, Britt! We have second period together, remember?" Puck called, motioning for her to follow him.

* * *

><p>Mike smiled as he stepped into his next class. Senior Year was off to a pretty good start. He knew the others were a little upset, but he was trying to look on the bright side of things. Santana <em>was <em>in remission, Sam was really starting to recover and for once at the start of a school year, the whole club was getting along. As far as he knew, no one was fighting, no grudges were being held and with the new anti-bullying policy, no one had even been slushied yet. He could get used to this.

When Finn slipped into the seat next to him, Mike turned to his friend, "How have things gone so far with you?" he asked.

"Pretty good." the other boy replied, "Nobody tried to throw Kurt in a dumpster or shove him in a locker, nobody's even slushied us and we've gotten Rory to all his classes."

"Does Kurt realize you're looking out for him, or does he think you're both just helping Rory?" Mike said with a smirk.

"I'm not sure," Finn said, his eyebrows furrowed for a moment, "but he hasn't yelled at me yet."

* * *

><p>Quinn couldn't fight back the smile that sprang to her lips when Sam sat next to her with his tray. She had missed the two of them being able to simply have lunch together and talk every day. With the progress he had made over the summer, she had a feeling lunch would be a little less stressful on the both of them as well. She knew that it still wasn't easy for him, but he had gotten fairly good at eating most of his food at meal times and he was finally back to a healthy weight. She was so proud of him. She knew that his recovery had been -and still was - very hard.<p>

"So how did the kids do this morning?" she asked with a smile.

"Ellie and Anna were pretty excited about the first day back; Aiden really didn't appreciate having to wake up early again though." Sam said with a laugh, "Once we got him up he did pretty well too though."

"Ellie started eighth grade this year, right? She'll be in high school next year." Quinn said, smirking at her boyfriend.

"I know, she reminded us all of that many times this morning." he replied.

"How's everything going with the adoption?" Quinn asked, changing the subject.

"It's going. Adoptions always take a while, but everything's good so far." he replied smiling and getting the same look of wonder he always got in his eyes when the adoption came up.

They kept small talk up for the rest of their lunch period, both simply happy to be together. When the bell finally rang, Quinn shot a look at his tray and smiled. She looked up at him, pride in her eyes after seeing his empty tray. He had blushed and grinned back before heading to put his tray up and make his way to his next class. She was so happy that he was finally doing better.

* * *

><p>Rachel Berry walked through the halls of McKinley with a smile on her face. The year was off to a wonderful start. She had so far avoided any bullying incidents and with four new members of New Directions. They were already well on their way to off-setting the loss the club would suffer when the seniors graduated. This was definitely a good start to the year. Perhaps now they could all concentrate on keeping their national title.<p>

That national title was going to look wonderful on her college applications, even more so if it was repeated. Snagging a second nationals win was her goal for the year. They had already proved they were good, now it was time to keep that attention and make everyone know they were great. New Directions would be going places. None of them were going to be 'Lima Losers'. They had big dreams and she was determined that they were going to happen.

She was looking forward to seeing what the new members could do that afternoon when they auditioned. She already knew that Miles could sing, but she needed to figure out just how much training the others would require. She had to make sure they were up to being a part of the best show choir in the country. New Directions was going to stay on top.

* * *

><p>Justin managed to make his way back to the choir room just behind his cousin. He had always liked singing and he knew that Artie's show choir had just won a national competition, so joining New Directions wasn't a big decision for him, but he still wasn't sure how he felt about it. It wasn't fair that he had to leave all his old friends behind and he still wasn't thrilled about having to make all new friends. If his mom just hadn't married that stupid guy and taken his side, he wouldn't be here in a new school without anyone he knew except his cousin. It wasn't fair.<p>

It was obvious that Artie had already told his friends about him and they did try not to stare, he had to give them that. The problem was that the rest of the school wasn't so courteous. He was sick of the whispers already and it was only the first day. It didn't help that none of the Glee Club members were in his grade so there was nobody even there to buffer the others. He was perfectly aware that he was short; he didn't need the reminders from everyone who saw him.

He sat down near his cousin and waited for the others to file in, exchanging quick greetings with a few of them. It wasn't long before the teacher walked in and announced that it was time to begin the auditions. The two boys that he knew were brothers instant jumping up, pulling a third boy who he remember was named Rory with them and nearly dragged him to the front of the class.

"I almost feel sorry for him." Artie said under his breath as the boy began to sing, both older boys shooting looks around the room as if daring anyone to not look impressed even though Rory was clearly very talented.

"Why?" Justin asked.

"Because they seem to have adopted him. Finn drives Kurt crazy on his own, Rory gets to deal with them both." his cousin said with an amused tone in his voice.

Justin glanced back at the other two boys before replying, "Overprotective?" he asked with a small smirk.

"Oh, yeah. Finn had a good reason to be protective of Kurt though, and Kurt probably won't be anywhere near as bad as Finn..." Artie replied softly before they both applauded as Rory finished.

As soon as Rory sat back down, a young girl came to the front and when Artie confirmed that the boy shooting similar protective glares at the others was her older brother, Justin nearly laughed. She was certainly going to be in for it dealing with him if Artie's stories of his friend Puck were anything to go by. Once she finished he finally stood and made his way to the front of the room. He hadn't been sure at first about choosing his song, but he finally decided that the others likely knew at least part of the story anyway.

"I'll be singing 'The Older I Get' by Skillet." he said as the music started.

_"__The walls between  
>You and I<br>Always pushing us apart _

_nothing left but scars fight after fight"_

He closed his eyes at first as he sang the opening lines of the song, pretending that he was just singing the song in his room like he had done so many times over the last month.

_"The space between  
>Our calm and rage<br>started growing shorter, _

_disappearing slowly day after day"_

Everything had been okay until Peter came into the mix. He had never had a perfect relationship with his mother, but they were okay until she started dating him. He had clashed with the man from the beginning and his mother had never taken his side.

_"I was sitting there waiting in my room for you  
>You were waiting for me too<br>And it makes me wonder"_

He had known it was coming. He stayed up every night she was out with Peter, waiting for her to come home and dreading the day when she gave him the news. Even though he saw it coming, he'd still locked himself in his room for the whole next day after she told him they were engaged.

_The older I get  
>Will I get over it<br>It's been way too long for the times we missed_

_I didn't know then it would hurt like this_

The closer it got to the wedding, the more Peter was at the house and the more Peter was at the house, the more they fought, with his mom always taking her fiancé's' side; never his. He spent more time locking himself in his room than he spent outside of it.

_"But I think the older I get  
>Maybe I'll get over it<br>It's been way too long for the times we missed  
>I can't believe it still hurts like this"<em>

He had begged her not to marry the man, but all that had done was make her angrier with him. It wasn't long before it seemed like he was fighting with his mother over everything, not just Peter. Barely a day went by without a screaming match.

_"The time between  
>Those cutting words<br>Built up our defenses never made no sense_

_it just made me hurt"_

He wished he understood what he had done in the first place that made her choose a man over him. He had never been the type to get into much trouble and he had always done okay in school. He didn't understand why she loved Peter so much more than her own son.

_"Do you believe  
>That time heals all wounds<br>It started getting better _

_But it's easy not to fight when I'm not with you"_

They hadn't fought as much in the last several weeks, but there was a reason for that. School had only been out a month before his fights with Peter got to the point that his new step-father gave his mother a choice, himself or Justin. She had chosen her husband and he found himself moving in with his uncle's family.

"_I was sitting there waiting in my room for you  
>You were waiting for me too<br>And it makes me wonder"_

It still felt like yesterday that she had told him. He'd never expected to be kicked out of his house at fifteen. He had never expected his mother to tell him that she would rather have someone else around than him, but she had. He knew that one would take a long time to get over.

_"The older I get  
>Will I get over it<br>It's been way too long for the times we missed_

_I didn't know then it would hurt like this"_

It had been three weeks now since he'd even seen his mother, she had visited once after he moved, but she hadn't come back since. It didn't take much for Justin to figure out why. Peter didn't want her to.

_"But I think the older I get  
>Maybe I'll get over it<br>It's been way too long for the times we missed  
>I can't believe it still hurts like this"<em>

He couldn't help but hope that maybe, someday, she would remember that she loved him. Maybe someday, she would choose him again. He didn't think there was much of a chance of Peter ever deciding that he liked him, but maybe eventually, his mom would again. Then maybe, things would be okay again.

_"What was I waiting for  
>I should've taken less and given you more<br>I should've weathered the storm"_

Sometimes he wondered if maybe he should have tried harder. Maybe at first, before things had gotten so out of control, he could have found some common ground with the man who was now his stepfather. Maybe there was something he would have done to prevent this mess he was in now. Maybe if he had even just kept his mouth shut about it he at least wouldn't have fought so much with his mother.

_"I need to say so bad  
>What were you waiting for<br>This could have been the best we ever had"_

Even as he wondered what he could have done the hurt and the anger came back when he wondered why his mother hadn't even tried. She had never talked to Peter about treating him better. She had never even tried to see his side, before taking her new husband's. This shouldn't have had to happen.

_"The older I get  
>Will I get over it<br>It's been way too long for the times we missed  
>I didn't know then it would hurt like this"<em>

He was so angry that she had let things get so far. He was _her_ son. Shouldn't he have come first? Was there any way they could ever come back from this?

_"But I think the older I get  
>Maybe I'll get over it<br>It's been way too long for the times we missed  
>I can't believe it still hurts like this"<em>

He sang the last few lines of the song, the hurt and anger clear in his voice before he finally opened his eyes and looked at the members of the club. Shock pretty much covered the looks on their faces. A few of the girls were crying and he tried not to blush as he made his way back to his seat.

* * *

><p>Miles had sat in silence as he watched the others perform. They had definitely all done well and he thought they would fit into the group. However, now it was his turn. He knew what song he wanted to sing, but he also knew that it would be an emotional one for the whole group. He had to do it though. He had made his choice and this was all a tribute to his girlfriend. It wasn't fair that she had to miss the first day of her senior year.<p>

He stood up and made his way to the front of the room, "I'll be singing 'Sara Beth' by Rascal Flatts." he said, seeing the realization hit in the eyes of a few of his friends as the music began.

_"Sara Beth is scared to death  
>To hear what the doctor will say<br>She hasn't been well, since the day that she fell  
>And the bruise it just won't go away"<br>_

As he sang the opening lines of the song, he found himself glad that his girlfriend at least hadn't been as scared as the girl in the song at first. Santana had been convinced that her parents were overreacting and until she had gotten the diagnosis, she had refused to believe anything was wrong. As he looked out at the group, he realized that most of the others had realized what the song was about.

_"So she sits and she waits with her mother and dad  
>And flips through an old magazine<br>Till the nurse with the smile stands at the door  
>And says, 'Will you please come with me?'"<br>_

There were already tears in the eyes of a few people - especially the girls who had barely recovered from Justin's song. He wondered what Santana would think when word of his audition song got back to her.

_"Sara Beth is scared to death  
>Cause the doctor just told her the news<br>Between the red cells and white, something's not right  
>But we're gonna take care of you"<em>

Miles felt tears spring into his own eyes as he sang that part, remembering how terrified his girlfriend had been that day. It had been a long time since he had felt as helpless as he had that night, holding Santana while she cried.

_"Six chances in ten, it won't come back again  
>With the therapy we're gonna try<br>It's just been approved, it's the strongest there is  
>And I think we caught it in time<br>And Sara Beth closes her eyes"_

He remembered the numb tone in her voice when she had finally explained what all the doctor had told her. He had instantly latched on to phrases like 'caught it in time' and 'good chance'. He couldn't lose her.

_"And she dreams she's dancing  
>Around and around without any cares<br>And her very first love is holding her close  
>And a soft wind is blowing her hair"<em>

He knew how scared Santana was and how much she just wanted it all to go away. This was supposed to be her senior year but she was going to be stuck going in and out of the hospital for chemotherapy. It wasn't fair. By the point all of the girls were crying, Sam had his arms wrapped comfortingly around Quinn and Finn was doing the same for Rachel while Mike held Tina's hand. Lauren was trying to pretend she wasn't crying and Puck seemed to know better than to break the illusion, even though he had tears in his eyes as well.

_"Sara Beth is scared to death  
>As she sits holding her mom<br>Says 'It would be a mistake for someone to take  
>A girl with no hair to the prom'"<em>

Kurt closed his eyes for a moment and blinked back tears, Miles assumed he was remembering shaving Santana's head for her. She had made the choice very quickly, but Kurt had been right there for her when she needed him. He had even shown up with a wig for her a week later.

_"For just this morning, right there on her pillow  
>Was the cruelest of any surprise<br>And she cried when she gathered it all in her hands  
>The proof that she couldn't deny<br>And Sara Beth closes her eyes"_

Miles hadn't been there when Santana had made the choice to shave her head, but he had been there with her a few nights later when it had really hit her that her hair was gone. It had taken nearly an hour for him to convince her that he didn't care if she had hair or not, he still loved her and she was still beautiful to him.

_"And she dreams she's dancing  
>Around and around without any cares<br>And her very first love was holding her close  
>And a soft wind is blowing her hair"<em>

He's determined to see her get better. They all are. None of them can stand the thought of losing her; it's as clear as day on their faces as they listen to him sing. Santana has got to stay in remission. He doesn't know what he would do if he lost her.

_"It's quarter to seven, that boy's at the door  
>And her daddy ushers him in<br>And when he takes off his cap  
>They all start to cry"<em>

Miles was a little nervous as he began to finish out the song, but he didn't regret what he had done. It was for Santana and he would do anything for her. So as he sang those lines, he did exactly what the boy in the song had done, and he took of that hat he had been wearing all day.

_"For this morning where his hair had been  
>Softly she touches just skin"<em>

There wasn't a dry eye in the room when he revealed his own bald head. He had thought about doing it earlier, but he had decided to make it his tribute to her when the school year started again. He wanted to prove to her that he really did love her, and there was no way on this earth that he was forgetting about her.

_"And they go dancing  
>Around and around without any cares<br>And her very first true love is holding her close  
>And for a moment she isn't scared"<em>

He sang the final words of the song and was suddenly pulled into a gigantic group hug. The members of New Directions surrounded him, all in tears but half of them smiling. He was starting to get what they meant. Glee club really was a family.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note Two: <strong>I really hope you guys liked this! I've decided to update every Monday until/unless I get a good bit ahead in writing. These are longer chapters and I don't want to rush myself and affect the quality of the story.

_This Universe So Far:_

Sam Evans has been in foster care for most of his life. He's been bounced from home to home but the last home he was in was horrible. Sam spent three years suffering severe physical abuse and was only removed from the home when he called 911 after his younger foster brother was hurt. He was then been placed with the Turner Family, who had an adopted daughter (Ellie) and three foster children (Seth - who later went home -, Anna and Aiden). Sam was terrified that his new family wouldn't keep him and began a dangerous quest to be perfect and developed an eating disorder along the way. When his friends and family finally figured out what was wrong, they rallied around him to help and he was officially diagnosed with Anorexia and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

After Kurt left school, the bullies turned their attention to Finn. Over the course of several months, his bullying became worse and worse until one morning everything came to a head. Karofsky and two friends cornered Finn in the hallway and beat him. Sam, Puck and Artie came to his rescue and the Gleeks decided something had to be done. Kurt returned, unable to stay tucked away in his safe boarding school while his brother wasn't safe and knowing their parents couldn't afford to send them both to Dalton. Together, the members of New Directions came up with a plan that successfully cause a much stricter anti-bullying policy to be enacted at McKinley.

New Directions went on to win Nationals and at Sam's sixteenth birthday party, his foster parents announced their intentions to adopt Sam and Aiden. Everything seemed to be going well until Santana became sick. When her parents became worried and brought her in for testing, it was discovered that she had leukemia. With the support of her friends and her new boyfriend Miles, Santana made it through her first round of treatments and is now in remission.


	2. Chapter 2

Puck walked into school side by side with his younger sister, Sarah. It was time to begin the second week of school - the first full week - and Puck couldn't decide yet it he was upset at coming back to the school work or glad to be out of his house for most of the day. He might not be the biggest fan of school, but at least there was Glee, though they had all already come to the conclusion that it felt very weird to be in Glee without Santana. At least one of them still went to visit her every day after school. That day would be his and Sarah's turn.

He knew that Miles would be there too, Miles hadn't missed a day with her yet unless his mother wouldn't let him come or she was to sick for visitors, though she usually made an exception for him even then. He was glad that Santana had Miles. They had been friends for years, they had even dated for a while and he had been proud of the way she had changed lately. She definitely deserved a guy like Miles to be there for her.

Nearly as soon as they walked into the doors, Sarah headed off in search of Justin and Puck nearly laughed. His younger sister clearly had a crush on Artie's cousin. Luckily for Justin, he seemed totally oblivious to Sarah's feelings for him and didn't seem remotely interested in being more then friends. Friends Puck could deal with, but he didn't think he'd approve of Justin if things became more then that. Justin had the troubled and angry vibe, a bit of a bad boy - basically, Justin seemed to be a less violent him in Puck's eyes. And that was precisely the problem.

He didn't want Sarah dating anyone, but certainly not anyone like him. She had enough to deal with already and she didn't need that. He had learned his lesson, he wasn't going to be treating girls anywhere near the way he had in the past, but he wasn't trusting Justin to be the same way. He had enough to protect Sarah from as it was. At least he had been able to set the kid that was living with Finn and Kurt on protection detail during classes. His friends had vouched for the younger boy and he seemed to be a little to wary of Puck to let him down.

Speaking of them, the brothers came walking up as if on cue, Rory following behind them like he always seemed to do.

"Hey, Puck!" Finn called, half jogging towards him.

"Hey, man." he replied once his friend caught up.

"Second week of school already. It seems like Summer just started. Only ... not really. Sometimes it does." Finn said, looking mildly confused as Kurt fought back a laugh.

"I know what you mean." Puck replied.

It was true, sometimes it seemed like they had just won nationals - or that it was only the other day when they were all practicing that song with Sam's younger siblings. Other times however, when he thought about how tense things were at home, or of how long it seemed like they had all been worried for Santana's life, it seemed like last year was forever ago. Finn had it right, he just hadn't worded it the best. Then again, Finn tended to do that a lot.

* * *

><p>Tina gave a soft sigh as she sat at her desk. The new rules might prevent the worst of the bullying, but it didn't suddenly make them popular and as such, it didn't put an end to the whispered comments. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle though. After what they were used to, it was almost nothing in comparison, but still, it would be nice if people would just keep their comments to themselves.<p>

It wasn't like she didn't have enough friends either, the Glee Club was a pretty big group. They might still need some time to get to know the new kids, but everyone from the year before was like family and they already knew Miles pretty well. It wasn't like they hadn't met Sarah before either. It didn't really matter if they were popular or not, she decided. They had enough people that cared about them that they could ignore the rest. But still, it got annoying sometimes.

Quinn suddenly interrupted her inner monologue by whispering to her, "What do you think of the new guys so far?"

"They seem nice. I think Sarah's a lot tougher then Puck thinks she is, and Justin can be a little ... I don't know but Rory seems really sweet." Tina replied.

"He is and he's definitely pretty shy. Sam says he pretty much attached himself to Finn and Kurt the moment he got here." Quinn said with a soft laugh.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty happy when he realized he had some classes with Sarah too, I guess because their at least in Glee together." Tina told her friend, remember the look on the boys face on the first day of school.

"I think he has a crush on her." the other girl revealed.

"Poor thing. He doesn't have a chance with Puck around." Tina responded with a quiet laugh of her own.

"I feel sorry for the first guy that Sarah dates. Puck certainly won't make things easy." Quinn replied.

* * *

><p>Kurt was currently pretending that he didn't notice the young freshman who seemed to be shadowing him. Rory had clearly memorized his and Finn's schedules and did his best to stay as close to them as possible when changing classes if Sarah wasn't with him. The exchange student seemed to be more then a little afraid of being alone in the hallways and surrounded by people he didn't know. Finn and Kurt's assurances that the new bullying policy made it very unlikely that anyone would hurt him, but that didn't seem to do any good.<p>

Kurt was beginning to wonder if some of the schools bullies had been threatening Rory. The younger boy was both shy and very naive and that made him the perfect target for the jerks that went to their school. Kurt knew that it wasn't likely there was anyone left at the school who would risk physical bullying anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried about how afraid Rory seemed to be. The younger teen had fit into their family almost perfectly and it wasn't hard to be protective of him.

If it made Rory feel better, Kurt would happily let the boy follow him around like a lost puppy as long as he wanted to and he knew that Finn felt the same way. Hopefully soon, Rory would realize that he really was safe at McKinley. He didn't want his newest friend to be so afraid, especially not a friend as innocent as Rory. Kurt didn't think Rory was capable of hurting a fly. He hoped it wouldn't take long for Rory to realize that he wouldn't be hurt.

Rory turned a confused glance at Kurt when he realized they had already passed Kurt's class, but the older boy simply smiled and kept walking until Rory turned into his own classroom. Kurt made his was back to where he was supposed to be, making a mental note to see if maybe they could get a few friends to help keep an eye on him. If there was someone threatening him, if they heard it, they could report it.

* * *

><p>Lauren wasn't sure yet what she thought of the new Glee members. She obviously knew Sarah already, and Sarah was a pretty cool kid, so she was fine with her. Miles had been around the year before, so everyone knew him already as well. The two new boys, however, were just that, new and she was trying to decide how exactly she felt about them. Justin had a bit of an angry at the world thing going on, but she could get that and he didn't seem like a bad kid. Rory however, had yet to speak to her at all beyond a short greeting the day they met.<p>

Neither boy spoke very much, with the exception of to the people they lived with and Sarah, but it seemed to be for very different reasons. Where Justin seemed to be trying hard to be mad about being there, Rory seemed an odd combination of shy and talkative. The younger boy would nearly talk Finn and Kurt's ears off, but looked nervous when the others spoke to him. It was worth investigating, in her opinion. Maybe she could get Puck to help.

Speaking of Puck, she needed to track him down to see if she could tag alone on his trip to visit Santana later. She might not have gotten along with the other girl at first, but by the end of the last school year that had started changing. Of course, everything had changed even more after Santana had been diagnosed. The realization that they weren't immortal, that one of them could really die had shaken them all. Things were different now for all of them.

Lauren couldn't help but admire Santana. The other girl had stayed strong and never given up, but then again Santana always had been tough. They really were a lot more alike then Lauren had been willing to admit at first. Lauren had never been quite as mean as Santana used to be, but she could admit to herself that she'd had her moments. Santana had the tough girl act mastered and sometimes Lauren had even thought about asking for a tip or two. The more she thought about it, the two of them could turn out to be pretty good friends.

* * *

><p>Artie rolled himself towards his cousin once he spotted him in the hallway.<p>

"Hey, man! What's up?" he asked, trying not to looked concerned.

He had yet to see Justin even speak to anyone outside of the Glee Club and he was worried that his cousin wasn't even trying to fit in to his new school. He knew that Justin was angry at the situation he had ended up in and it wasn't fair that he had been forced to leave his home and his old friends, but he wished the younger boy would try and make the best of the situation. As long as he had to be at McKinley, he thought that Justin might as well make some friends, but apparently, the other boy didn't share that opinion. Artie kept hoping that he would change his mind soon, after all Justin had come to terms with the fact that life isn't always fair a while ago when the doctors told him he likely wouldn't be getting to much taller.

"Nothing." Justin replied, looking over at his cousin.

"Find anybody to talk to?" Artie asked, doing his best to keep the conversation sounding casual.

"No." the other boy replied, shooting Artie a look that clearly meant he wanted him to drop it.

"Not everyone outside of Glee's that bad." Artie informed him, "Not everyone can sing." he added.

"I know that. I'm fine, Artie." Justin answered before turning into his classroom and effectively ending the conversation.

* * *

><p>Mercedes smiled softly as the members of New Directions began to file into the choir room. It was nice to be back to seeing almost everyone all together every afternoon, but she would be glad when it really was everyone - when Santana was back. She had visited her friend at the hospital the day before and they had spent quite a while talking as she had tried to fill the other girl in on all the gossip. Santana hated feeling out of the loop.<p>

They had spent a good portion of the afternoon discussing the two new Glee members that Santana hadn't met yet. As Justin walked in she remembered how she had described him to Santana - a mini Puck minus being involved with half the school. Looking closer at him she wondered if she had really done him justice with that. He certainly gave off the troubled bad boy vibe, but Artie had never described him as getting into much trouble before. Then again, Puck hadn't always been that way either.

As Sarah rushed in and sat next to him, Mercedes couldn't help the small amused smile that found it's way to her face. Wasn't it said that girls often fell for guys with similar personalities to their father? She knew that Puck - despite being only a few years older - had taken over the role of a father in Sarah's life. Of course that wasn't always true, one look at Quinn and Sam proved that. Sam would never do the things Quinn's father had done, all you had to do was see him with his foster siblings to know that he would never abandon a child.

When Finn walked in, making a beeline for Rachel as Rory trailed behind him, Mercedes turned her attention to the other new boy. He wasn't quite as confusing as Justin was, but he was still a bit of puzzle. She had seen first hand how talkative the boy could be when he was comfortable with his surroundings, but he clearly wasn't very comfortable around all of them yet. Ever since Kurt had shared his worries about the younger boy with her, she had found herself keeping an eye on him as well. There was definitely something off, but she wasn't sure what.

Speaking of Kurt, her ponderings about Rory were cut off when he walked in and sat next to her. She quickly turned her attention to her best friend.

"Hey, boo. How was your day?" she asked still worried even after all this time that one of the old bullies would suffer a bit of memory loss about the new rules.

"As good as any day in this school can be. What about you?" Kurt replied.

"I had a pretty good day too." she answered with a small smile, "Have you figured anything out?" she questioned with a small nod in Rory's direction.

"Nothing yet, but hopefully I will soon." Kurt replied.

They kept up small talk until the rest of the group trickled in and Mr. Schue finally began things. There was a lot of excitement when he announced he wanted them to split into duets and trios for the weeks assignment. Mercedes and Kurt instantly decided to sing together and glanced around the room to see who else paired up. Sarah seemed to have instantly claimed Justin, which caused Rory's face to fall and Finn shoot an apologetic look at Rachel before promising to sing with him. The rest of the groups formed quickly and Mercedes couldn't help but be curious when Puck, Artie and Sam were suddenly sitting together and looking much to excited for their own good.

* * *

><p>Rory smiled softly when they pulled into the drive way of the Hudson-Hummel household. He didn't trust the school, there were to many whispered remarks and veiled threats - and a few outright threats - for him to believe that it was really as safe now as Finn and Kurt seemed to think. He did trust this house though. Finn and Kurt had been so much nicer to him then he had ever expected and their parents were awesome. He knew he was safe with them.<p>

He was just starting to get used to the rue tine here. The three boys would get home about two hours before Mr. and Mrs. Hummel did. Kurt always went straight to his homework and tried to get him and Finn to do so as well, but so far Finn had joined Kurt as soon as they got home once. The other days he had insisted he needed to stop thinking about schoolwork for a while and headed for the x-box. Rory had found himself always joining Kurt at the dinning room table to work on his own homework because if he looked too confused, Kurt would come over to help without him even having to ask.

"Let's get our homework over with." Kurt said as he took off his backpack and carried it into the dinning room.

"I think I need to get my -" Finn started.

Rory nearly laughed at the look Kurt sent his brother as he interrupted him, "Finn, it's a Monday. You had the whole weekend to get your mind off of school work."

"Fine." Finn said with a sigh, quickly giving in to his younger brother and picking his own bag back up off the floor as he followed the others into the dinning room.

"Do you think you'll need any help?" Kurt asked as Rory pulled out his homework.

"I don't think so, I have Math and Science today. It's English and History I have trouble with." Rory admitted before turning to his work causing the other boys to do the same.

* * *

><p>Santana couldn't help the excitement she felt when she heard the soft knock at her door before it opened. Over the Summer as long as she was well enough to talk there was either someone visiting her or someone talking to her on Skype, but now during the day all she had to focus on was how bored and miserable she was while she tried to keep up with the schoolwork her friends brought for her. She was grateful that the school was allowing her to do her work in the hospital though, because she was determined to keep up. Stupid cancer was <em>not<em> going to make have to repeat her Senior year.

Her work had been done for hours now though and the soap operas she managed to get herself addicted to while in the hospital had gone off. She was just a little bit thrilled to see Puck, Lauren and Sarah walking in. She had never imagined that she would miss being in Glee as much as she did. It meant more then she could ever say that they all still made sure to visit her. She was sure that without her friends and Miles, the boredom would have driven her insane.

"Hey, San." Puck said with a smile as he walked in, "I have your work." he added, holding up a pile of papers.

"Hey, guys." she greeted, "Just set it down there next to yesterday's stuff. I finished that a while ago."

"Are you feeling okay today?" Sarah asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, today's a good day." she replied, giving the younger girl a small smile, "So ... any gossip?" she asked, directing the question at Lauren.

"Nah, it's been crazy boring. I think everyone's still trying to impress the teachers. I guess that makes their reactions later funnier when everything goes nuts." Lauren informed her.

"I'm pretty sure Sarah can tell you some more about our little newbies though, especially Justin. I don't think anyone pays more attention to him then her." Puck said with a teasing grin.

"Noah!" the younger girl yelled, turning around to hit him.

"Oh, come on. Tell me, it's not like I can go find him and spill the beans." Santana said, causing Sarah to blush even more.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I hope this is alright guys, my Beta's computer is broken, so she hasn't edited this yet. When she does, I'll replace this chapter with the edited one! I'm so happy that you guys have liked this so far and I hope you continue to like it. The first five chapters are going to basically be build up chapters - I'm letting you know what everyone thinks about things now and trying to let you get to know the new characters (by the way, please let me know what you're thinking of them). Chapter six is when things are really going to get started. I'm going to try and get back into writing now and get more ahead. I've had a hard week as life decided to imitate art for a bit. My twelve year old cousin (who was being horribly bullied in school) attempted suicide. They had him admitted to a psychiatric hospital to figure out how to help him and he was diagnosed with PTSD. He's home now though!


	3. Chapter 3

Justin sighed as he walked into McKinley. He was so sick of this stupid new life and the stupid new school that he was stuck in becuse of his stupid stepfather. Especially since his stupid mother hadn't even called him in two stupid weeks. He might be just a little bitter. He had been perfectly find at his old school. He'd had a few friends and everyone there was used to him being short and most of them had lost interest. Here he got to be a brand new shiny specticle for everyone to point at, stare at and whisper about.

Artie's friends were nice, he would give them that. They were probably the only people in the school who weren't pointing, staring and whispering. He thought that might have something to do with the fact that they didn't exactly seem to be the most popular kids in school either. They mingled with the band kids and the football players and cheerleaders talked to a few other football players and cheerleaders while Artie had friends in the AV club, but other then that, they rarely interacted with people outside of New Directions.

It wasn't that he didn't like them, he did, but he didn't want to be there. He wanted to be in his own house, going to his own school and with his own friends. It wasn't that he didn't appriciate being allowed to live in Artie's house, go to Artie's school and hang out with Artie's friends but it just wasn't the same. What was the point in trying to fit in here when he would be going home as soon as his mother came to her senses? Maybe it would take a while, but she was his mother, he knew she loved him so surely she would have to change her mind eventually. Then he could go home again.

"Hey, Justin!" he heard from behind him.

He turned his head to spot Sarah head towards him. The younger girl had definitely been persistant about trying to make friends with him and he really couldn't bring himself to push her away. He knew that he and Rory were the only ones in the group close to her age and she really did seem sweet. Being friends with her couldn't really hurt anything. He had decided a few days ago that making _one_ friend here surely wouldn't be getting too attached.

"Hi, Sarah." he replied giving her a rare smile as she carefully fell into step beside him, "You went to visit ... Santana last night, right? How did that go?" he asked.

She blushed for some reason before replying, "It went pretty well. She was feeling better and we talked for a while."

* * *

><p>Finn glanced warily around the halls before deciding that Kurt and Rory really were safe and heading off in search of Sam. It was definitely a little harder to find the other boy since he stopped being in the weight room every morning, but Finn wouldn't ever want to go back to that. He still remembered how terrifying it had been when Sam had collapsed and how hard it had been to keep a straight face during their interention when he had realized just how frighteningly thin Sam had gotten. That wasn't something he ever wanted to experience again and he had to admit that he could still be a little overprotective at times. Having Kurt around seemed to have brought out his big brother side more then he expected it to.<p>

Sam was doing better though. It had been five months since he was diagnosed and though he still didn't eat anywhere near as much as Finn did and according to the Kurt, he could still probably use to gain a little more weight, but things were better. Sam never looked as scary sick and tired as he did before and even though he was still a little jumpy, even that seemed to be getting better. He didn't have to worry about Sam quite so much anymore.

According to Kurt though, now it seemed like he could just switch to worrying about Rory. He had noticed that things seemed off too and after comparing notes with Kurt the other night, he was even more sure that there was something wrong. Considering the fact that Rory lived with them, it had been easy to keep enough of an eye on him to know that it wasn't the same thing that had been wrong with Sam - Rory ate normally and didn't excercise any more then Finn and Kurt did. That didn't leave them any closer to figuring out what was wrong with the other boy, though.

Finally spotting Sam, he decided to try and push his worries out of his mind and rushed to catch up with his friend, "Hey, man!" he said.

"Hey, Finn. Where's Rory?" Sam asked after glancing around the hall.

"Oh, he's with Kurt." Finn said, realizing that the rest of the club seemed to have realized that Rory was always with him, his brother or Sarah as well.

"He really is shy, isn't he?" Sam said as they began to walk towards the gym.

"At first at least. You should hear him talk when he gets excited about something at home." Finn said.

"Anna's like that." the blond boy replied with a smile.

"How are all of them doing?" Finn asked his friend.

"Pretty good. They like their teachers for the most part - Ellie's not that fond of her science teacher though." Sam replied.

* * *

><p>Tina smiled as she walked into the lunch room, even though they were a grade apart, by some miracle she and Mike had ended up with the same lunch period this year. She was always grateful for any extra time that she could spend with and she was glad that they would have that time for the rest of the year. She had already been able to use the time to subtley question him about what he wanted for his upcoming birthday. In just a few days her boyfriend would turn eighteen and she wanted it to be special.<p>

She planned to take full advantage of all the time she could spend with Mike this year, because she knew that he was hoping to get into a school in California or New York to further his plans to become a professional dancer. She fully planned to do her best to follow him where ever he ended up, but there would still be a year between his graduation and hers. That year apart was not something she was looking forward to at all. They were still together for now though and she planned to take full advantage of every moment with him.

"Hi." she said with a sweet smile as she sat next to her boyfriend, "Classes okay today?" she asked.

"Hey, baby." he said, instantly kissing her before answering her question, "Yeah, pretty good. I think Miss Stevens is trying to kill us with the homework though."

Tina laughed softly, "There's always one that does. I think they plan it that way on purpose." she replied.

"Do they plan the teachers that just don't show up too, you think?" Mike answered, amused.

"I don't know, maybe we should ask Mr. Schue." she responded.

"I haven't had as much of a problem with that yet - but I did have one teacher who was ten minutes late this morning." he informed her with a sigh.

"I have you beat." Tina said after taking a bite of food, "I have the teacher Miles' had that stopped bothering to show up half the time towards the end of the year."

* * *

><p>Sam was the first person in the choir room that afternoon. He had spent the last couple of days practicing with Puck and Artie and they were ready to perform their number. There had been such a focus on serious songs at the end of the last school year that he was really looking forward to performing something that was just fun. He understood why the songs had been so serious, it was a way to cope and express what everyone was feeling and he'd made good use of it too, he just liked to be able to sing something that was purely for fun as well.<p>

Sometimes it was nice to just pretend he had a normal life. Singing about trying to deal with things like his eating disorder and PTSD helped, but just pushing all the bad things out of his mind for a little while and enjoying himself helped too. He wasn't going to let it rule his life. He had problems, big ones, but things were getting better. He had friends, an amazing girlfriend and he was being adopted into a wonderful family. His problems weren't going to win, he was going to beat them. He was more then just the labels that social services had slapped in his file.

He smiled as the rest of his friends began to file into the room. He knew that his group wasn't the only one performing that day, Finn had told him that Rachel's group had their song ready as well. He was looking forward to hearing what they had come up with, but he was still more excited about performing his song. He had been looking for a reason to sing that song for a while and he thought it came out really well with Puck and Artie singing with him.

Finally Mr. Schue walked in and shut the classroom door before asking if anyone was ready to perform. Sam, Puck and Artie headed to the front of the room almost instantly, grabbing guitars and nodding to the band.

_"__I never was a straight-laced, straight A student  
>teacher's pet or child prodigy"<em>

Puck started the song off, shooting a mischevious grin at their friends as he sang knowing just how true those words were.

_"I wasn't gonna get rich throwin' a football  
>It'd take too long to get a law degree"<em>

Artie took the next lines of the songs, getting a few small laughs with the line about football as many of them still weren't sure how they'd managed to bend the rules enough to get him on the school team to begin with.

_"So I sat down with momma and daddy  
>They tried to talk some sense into my think head"<em>

Sam happily too the next part, knowing that his lines didn't apply quite as well as ones the other boys had taken, but not really caring. The song wasn't meant to be taken seriously anyway.

_"But the best advice that I ever got  
>was from my sister's rock star boyfriend"<em>

The three boys joined together, grinning as the song began to speed up and couple of the others seemed to recognise it.

_"Just get you a guitar and learn how to play  
>Cut up some jeans, come up with a name<br>When you're living in a world that you don't understand  
>Find a few good buddies, start a band<br>Start a band, Start a band"_

As they sang the first chorus the others seemed to start getting into the performance, dancing slightly in their seats and Sam couldn't help but smile even wider. They should find reasons to do a silly song or two more often.

_"And all those girls that were too cool to talk to"_

Artie started off the second verse, putting on a playful mocking expression as he sang.

_"They'll be waiting in a line out back"_

Puck came in after him, pointing behind his back and smirking at the girls in the room.

_"Might get your picture in a hometown paper"_

Sam sang his part with a wink at his friends, referencing the article in the local paper after New Directions won nationals.

_"Maybe buy your momma that Cadillac"_

The boys joined in together once again at the lead-in to the chorus, having as much fun with the song as possible.

_"Just get you a guitar and learn how to play  
>Cut up some jeans, come up with a name<br>When you're living in a world that you don't understand  
>Find a few good buddies, start a band, start a band"<em>

As they began the chorus again most of the group began to sing with them, laughing and starting to dance around the room. It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves like that, not caring how they looked and just having fun with it.

_"Scrape up some money, buy a van_  
><em>Learn free bird and ramblin' man<em>  
><em>Never buy another beer again"<br>_  
>Sam, Artie and Puck took each of the next lines in turn before heading into the songs guitar part. The boys played it up as much as they could, thouroughly enjoying themselves as the other's laughed.<p>

_"So get you a guitar and learn how to play  
>Grow out your hair, come up with a name<br>With a little bit of luck you'll be packing the stands  
>Find a few good buddies, start a band<em>  
><em>No need to study, start a band<br>Call up some buddies man, and start a band"_

They finished out the song as they danced around the room with their friends and took several high fives from the other guys when the song ended. Sam grinned as he looked around the room. They would definitely have to do something like that again soon.

* * *

><p>Rachel sat down and waited as the rest of the room calmed down and made it back to their seats. Sam, Noah and Artie had done a very good job with their performance but she knew that what she had planned with Tina and Quinn was going to be even better. Fun songs had their place, but their song was one that she knew the whole group could identify with and she had made sure that they practiced until it was perfect. Their song would be simply incredible.<p>

She had never spent much time with Tina, but she had discovered during the last school year that Tina had a much more impressive voice then she had previously given her credit for. It had only seemed natural to include Tina in their group as soon as she thought of the song they should used. Of course, she had come up with their song within minutes of the assignment being announced. She was brilliant that way sometimes.

Luckily it only took a few minutes for the room to settle back down and she quickly stood up and made her way to the front of the room, "Quinn, Tina and I have prepared and number that I hope you will all enjoy." she said with a smile before motioning for the band to begin the song.

_"Grew up in a small town_

_And when the rain would fall down_

_I'd just stare out my window"_

Rachel opened the song, singing with emotion thinking of how badly she had always wanted to make it out of Ohio and be famous, even from when she was a little girl. She had spent all her life daydreaming about living in New York.

_"Dreaming of what could be_

_And if I'd end up happy_

_I would pray"_

When they had practiced the song, Quinn had told the others that when she sang that part she couldn't help but think of all she had seen as she grew up. So many people just seemed to get stuck in their town and a lot of them never really seemed happy. She had never wanted to be one of them and she remembered how afraid she had been that she would never have the chance to be anything else once she got pregnant.

_"Trying hard to reach out_

_But when I tried to speak out_

_Felt like no one could hear me"_

Tina had added afterwards that she thought of how alone she had been before Glee club. There hadn't been anyone who cared. The only person who would really even speak to her was Artie. No one else seemed to even see her.

_"Wanted to belong here"_

That line had always made Rachel think of how hard she used to try to fit in. Before Glee Club, before they had become the dysfunctional family they were now, she had tried to join every club in school. She had been desperate to find a group that would accept her. She remembered telling all of that to Quinn and Tina as they had shared their own stories with her.

_"But something felt so wrong here"_

Rachel looked to Tina as she sang and remembered Tina saying how out of place she had always felt in Lima. She was labeled as the weird Asian girl and no matter how much she had wanted to be invisible at times, she always stuck out like a sore thumb. She had never fit in anywhere before she joined New Directions and Glee was still the only place she felt that she fit in.

_"So I prayed I could breakaway"_

Rachel turned back to Quinn, remembering her confiding about all the nights she had sat up praying that she could make it out of the town and be happy somewhere. Quinn had said that she didn't even have to leave Ohio, she just desperately wanted out of Lima.

_"I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly_

_I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky_

_And I'll make a wish_

_Take a chance_

_Make a change_

_And breakaway"_

The three girls began the chorus and looked out at their friends as they sang. They knew that the whole group had wanted exactly what the words of the song said. Maybe not all of them wanted to get as far away as possible, maybe not all of them even wanted out of the state but they knew that every single one of them wanted to make something more of themselves.

_"Out of the darkness and into the sun_

_But I won't forget all the ones that I love_

_I'll take a risk_

_Take a chance_

_Make a change_

_And breakaway"_

They finished out the chorus and Rachel thought about just how much she meant the words she was singing. She looked at the faces of all her friends and knew that she would never forget any of them. They were a family now and they would never lose touch.

_"Wanna feel the warm breeze_

_Sleep under a palm tree"_

Quinn sang her lines, shooting a glance at her boyfriend Sam and smiling as she did and Rachel couldn't help but wonder if they had talked about something similar.

_"Feel the rush of the ocean_

_Get onboard a fast train"_

Tina sang next, smiling as she did and looking like she really meant every word.

_"Travel on a jet plane, far away _

_And breakaway"_

Rachel sang her finds as she imagined flying to New York again, this time knowing that she was moving there. She knew that that moment would happen someday and she couldn't wait.

_"I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly_

_I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky_

_And I'll make a wish_

_Take a chance_

_Make a change_

_And breakaway_

_Out of the darkness and into the sun_

_But I won't forget all the ones that I love_

_I'll take a risk_

_Take a chance_

_Make a change_

_And breakaway"_

As the girls sang the chorus of the song, the rest of the group joined in with them like they had for the boys song. The other members of New Directions seemed to see how well the lyrics applied to them as well.

_"Buildings with a hundred floors"_

Quinn sang her final line in the song with her eyes closed, seeming as if she had an exact image in her ming.

_"Swinging around revolving doors"_

Tina came in next, smiling as she sang her last part.

_"Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but"_

Rachel came in with her last part meaning every word. She might not know exactly what the future held for her, but she knew that it wouldn't be here.

_"Gotta keep moving on, moving on_

_Fly away, breakaway_

_I'll spread my wings_

_And I'll learn how to fly_

_Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye_

_I gotta take a risk_

_Take a chance_

_Make a change_

_And breakaway_

_Out of the darkness and into the sun_

_But I won't forget the place I come from_

_I gotta take a risk_

_Take a chance_

_Make a change_

_And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway"_

The girls finished out the song together, every word clearly sung with sincerity. Rachel, Quinn and Tina clearly meant the words they were singing. Someday, all of them planned out getting out of the town they were in and making something more of themselves. As Rachel looked at her the rest of her friends, who were still all singing along, she knew that everyone of them planned to do the same.

* * *

><p>Lauren had just turned the keys in the doorknob and started opening the door when she heard yelling and what sounded a little like a stampede. She sighed softly in preparation for the impending chaos before letting herself smile - she really didn't mind that much. She opened the door the rest of the way and was greeted with exactly the sight she had been expecting. Her eleven year old brother Hunter being chased around the room by her nineteen-going-on-twelve year old brother Alex. Nothing seemed to be broken yet, but that was likely because Jeremy and Jason didn't appear to be there too.<p>

"It's the middle of the week, what are you doing here?" Lauren yelled at her older brother over the chaos.

"Felt like it." he said with a shrug before catching the younger boy, throwing him over his shoulder doing a victory lap around the house.

"Don't you have class tomorrow? Dad'll kill you if he finds out you skipped." she called in the direction of the kitchen as Alex ran past.

"I'll go back." he said as if that was obvious.

"It's a two hour drive." she said, baffled that the boy who usually had to be dragged out of bed when he lived at home would willingly risk cutting into his sleeping time.

"My first class is late tomorrow." he explained as he finally sat down on the couch with a laughing Hunter next to him.

"Stop questioning him and just have fun!" Hunter said as he hopped back off the couch and grabbed his brothers hand, beginning to drag him towards the backyard as he waved for Lauren to join them.

Lauren didn't take long to think about it before setting down her bad and following her brother's outside to join in whatever Hunter had planned. She really did miss having Alex around when he was gone. She had always been close with all her brothers so as long as whatever they were doing was away from things that could break, she was happy to do it with them. She really didn't think their mom would be happy with two broken lamps in a month.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>My beta is still having computer problems but my sister (NattieGirl99) read through this and hopefully caught any major issues. I hope this chapter is okay!

_BlackKeys96_: Thank you so much!


	4. Chapter 4

Sam was in the middle of rinsing off the breakfast dishes and putting them in the sink as the rest of his family was in the middle of their normal chaos. Phil was rushing out the door as Jessica tried to fix Anna's hair, Ellie was ranting over the hole she had discovered in her favorite shirt and Aiden had just thrown a blanket over his head and declared that he was too tired to go to school. All in all, it was a typical morning in the Turner household and Sam wouldn't trade it for the world. Sam finished with the dishes and turned around, taking stock of the situation before heading for Ellie.

"Let me see." he said motioning for the shirt she was still holding.

"Okay." she said, looking confused as the took the shirt, spread it on the table with the hole visible and took a picture on his phone.

"One of my friends might be able to fix it, let me show a few of them and see what they say, alright?" he said, watching as her face instantly brightened.

"Thank you, Sam!" she announced before running off to find another shirt.

One down and one to go. Sam turned towards the couch and headed for Aiden, kneeling down and pulling the blanket off of the little boy's head. He had a feeling he knew exactly why the little boy was trying to go back to sleep.

"Why don't you want to go to school?" he asked.

"I'm tired." the little boy mumbled.

"You went to bed on time last night ... why are you tired?" Sam asked with a slightly knowing tone to his voice.

"Well..." the little boy started, catching the stern look on his brothers face and giving in, "I wasn't done playing! So I kinda-sorta got backup." he confessed.

"You have to go to school anyway though. You have a bed time so you won't be tired, remember that. Maybe you can take a nap when you get home." he told the child.

Aiden sighed and got off the couch, walking off to finish getting ready. With that dealt with, the family set about all the last minute things that went in to getting all five of them out the door and ready for the day. It almost seemed like a miracle when they all headed out the door on time, but then again, it always did. Jessica was just about to shut the door when Aiden suddenly ran back inside.

"What are you doing?" Jessica called into the house.

"It's Sammy's friend birthday! I have to get the card I made him!" he called, running back out a moment later.

Sam smiled as he climbed into the van with him. Mike had the first birthday of the group and today. he would turn eighteen. That always had the potential for an interesting day.

* * *

><p>Rachel smiled as she walked into school that morning. According to the list of birth dates she had acquired during a brief interview with each New Directions member, today, Mike would turn eighteen. The first birthday of the school year among the friends would have to be celebrated. She was sure that she could get the others to sing to him in Glee that afternoon. After all, you didn't turn eighteen every day.<p>

Mike was the oldest of the group. He was the first to be an adult and Rachel couldn't help but find that a little scary. They really were growing up. Several of them were seniors this year, they would graduate and move on with their lives. Half of the original Glee members would leave. That was a scary thing to think about.

She tried remind herself that they wouldn't lose touch. They had become like a family, they would always be close. It wasn't like they would never see each other again. But still, it wouldn't quite be the same. They wouldn't see each other every day. Maybe not every week. They had to make the most of this year.

She smiled when she caught sight of her boyfriend walking in with his brother and Rory. She definitely had to make the most of her time with him, Finn was a senior as well. She was already beginning to dread next year without him. She quickly tried to shake it off though. That was something to worry about later. Right now, she simply needed to spend as much time with him as she could.

"Finn!" she called rushing to catch up to the three boys.

"Hey, Rach!" Finn said with a smile as he instantly pulled her into a kiss.

Kurt rolled his eyes before hugging her, "Good morning, Rachel." he said.

"Good morning to you too." she said before turning to the youngest boy, "How are you, Rory?" she asked.

"I'm okay. How are you?" Rory replied softly.

"I'm wonderful! I'm looking forward to celebrating Mike's birthday. I was thinking that we of course have to sing to him." she began as the group walked down the hall.

* * *

><p>Puck laughed as he walked into the lunchroom with Lauren who had been in the middle of telling him about her brother's visit the night before. Though her father remained wary of him, he had ended up getting along fairly well with her brothers once they got past the initial threats. The Zizes boys had gotten into enough trouble themselves to be able to look past his slightly checkered past. Their father hadn't quite gotten to that point yet, but he could understand that.<p>

Lauren was Mr. Zizes only daughter and as much as she didn't seem to realize it, Puck knew that in his own way, he saw her as his little princess. Puck understood that feeling. He might not have gotten to keep her, and he might rarely see her, but Beth was his little princess. He had a feeling that if a guy like him wanted to date Beth, he'd be just as wary, if not more. It was the same reason that he was a little wary of Sarah's crush on Justin - though that hadn't stopped him from teasing his sister about it.

"So Alex went back home already?" Puck asked.

"Yeah. I had to drag him out of bed before I left for school though." his girlfriend replied with a roll of her eyes.

"He cut that pretty close." Puck said, laughing.

"He always does." Lauren responded, shaking her head.

"Just so you know," Puck started, changing the subject, "I think Rachel plans to turn Glee into a birthday party for Mike. Though I'm pretty sure it will still involve a lot of singing."

"Yeah, I guessed that. Berry can be pretty predicable. I brought my present for him." she said, smirking slightly.

* * *

><p>Tina smiled to herself before pulling her boyfriend aside in the hallway to begin a make-out session. Rachel had informed her earlier that she needed to distract Mike and make sure that the two of them would be the last ones to enter the choir room. She really couldn't think of a better or more enjoyable way to go about distracting him. She would have to let Mike spend time with his friends once Glee started and this was a perfect way to ensure that she got some time with him as well.<p>

She made sure to keep him occupied for several minutes until her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, telling her that everyone else was there. Sighing softly, she pulled away and informed her boyfriend that they really should get to Glee club. He agreed, and the two of them headed hand in hand for the choir room. Sure enough, just as Tina had suspected, the moment the door opened there was a loud shout of "Happy Birthday!" and once the group hug had ended, she realized that Rachel had somehow gotten cake and ice cream into the room. Before she could ponder that much further, Finn and Rachel began leading the group in singing to Mike.

She turned to her slightly embarrassed looking boyfriend and smiled, "Happy birthday." she said before kissing him again.

"You were in on this!" he playfully accused.

"Of course I was." she replied with a smirk.

"I'm so getting you back for this on your birthday." he whispered before being pulling into the laughing crowd and towards the cake.

"Happy birthday Mike!" Mr. Schue said as Mike was pushed towards him and the cake he was cutting, "Glee club has our first adult now! How does it feel?"

"I don't know ... good, I guess?" Mike replied and Tina laughed at the slightly confused look on her boyfriends face.

After the cake was cut and passed out, Rachel shockingly allowed them a good twenty minutes to simply celebrate Mike's birthday. However, as soon as the last person - who happened to be Finn - finished, Rachel was quick to announce that they really should get some singing in. Expecting that, the group laughed and cleaned up before heading back to their seats to start singing. Tina found herself almost missing the sarcastic comment she knew Santana would have made if she had been there.

* * *

><p>Mike was still smiling when he walked into his house after picking his brother up from school. He might have been a little embarrassed, but he loved that his friends cared enough about him to do that. Once he got passed the embarrassment, he really had had a blast. It still hadn't quite sunk in yet that he was eighteen though.<p>

"Boy, being an adult sure has you happy." Shawn teased.

"My friends through a party for me in Glee. It was really nice." he explained, before heading back to take the presents he had been given out of the car.

Shawn followed him and helped him get his things into the house before going through what his older brother had gotten and exclaiming over it. Mike couldn't help but laugh as he watched him. Sometimes he really couldn't believe how amazing his friends were. Once Shawn had finished going through his presents, Mike put everything up in his room. He had just made it back into the living room when his mom walked in the door.

"Happy birthday, Michael!" she exclaimed, even though she had already said so that morning.

"Thanks mom." Mike said as she put her things down and came over to hug him.

"Did you have a good day?" she asked him.

"I did." he told her, smiling as he remembered it, "My friends kinda threw me a surprise party in Glee."

His mother smiled again, "I knew that I liked them. You chose good friends, Michael." she said as she headed into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I did." Mike said with a smile of his own as he followed her into the kitchen.

"No." she said, turning around with a stern expression on her face that was ruined by the smile that was still there, "You go do something fun. I have a cake to bake and your favorite dinner to cook and you aren't helping on your birthday!" she said, shooing him out of the room.

Mike grinned before heading out of the room and asking Shawn if he wanted to watch one of the movies he had gotten. His little brother's face instantly lit up and Mike headed to get the movie out of his room. They seem to time thinks almost perfectly as the movie ended only five minutes before their mother called them to supper. He smiled as he sat down to the meal. Their mother had raised them on her own and there was really no other family in the picture, but she had always done her best to make birthdays special for her sons. In Mikes opinion, she had always succeeded.

"Thank you, mom. It looks great," he said before settling down to eat.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>This is a lot shorter then I had wanted it to be, but I hit some writers block here and then my dad got laid off _again_ and ... that sends him on cleaning frenzies we all have to be involved in. Along with a few other random things that kept me busy, this is shorter and took longer to get out then I wanted, but I hope that you guys will forgive me! My aunt is taking us on vacation next week, so I won't have much computer time, but I'll have the next chapter to you as soon as possible and it will be longer!


	5. Chapter 5

Justin sighed as he opened his eyes to find himself the blue room that he knew used to be the guest room as his aunt and uncle's house. Even after so long, he still found himself hoping that the mess he was in with his mother would just be a nightmare and he would wake up to find himself back in his own bedroom with Peter no where to be found but it never was. He was still living with his aunt, uncle and cousin and his mother was still living in their house with her new husband. He didn't have another option though, it was either living here within driving distance if his mother decided to come visit or living with his father several states away and even farther from everything he had ever known.

He was greatful for what his aunt and uncle had done for him, he really was, but it was still hard for him to not be angry at the situation. They had taken him in, given him a home and treated him the same as they did their own son, but it still didn't change the fact that he wasn't and he had his own mother who should be doing that. His own mother who still hadn't called him since school started. He knew that he could have it worse - he did have a place to live where he was treated wonderfully and he had a group of people at school that had accepted him, but he still wanted his own house, his own mother, his own school and his own friends.

He thought about the other members of the New Directions as he dragged himself out of bed and set about getting ready. They really weren't bad, but he still didn't plan on getting to close to any of them. The moment his mother changed her mind, he would be out of Lima and back to his old life. It wasn't like any of them could understand what he was going through anyway. Well, except for Sam and Quinn. Artie had always kept him filled in on major events in Glee, so while he might not know details, he did know that Sam had grown up in foster care and was in the process of being adopted. He also knew that Quinn had been kicked out of her home two years ago when she became pregnant. If there was anyone who would understand, it would be them, but he still hadn't been able to bring himself to really get to know them. He wouldn't be here long anyway. At least that's what he was telling himself.

Justin finished brushing his teeth and headed into the kitchen to find Artie in the process of making himself a bowl of cereal. He quickly grabbed his own bowl and spoon and joined his cousin. As much as he wanted to go home, he couldn't deny that the wheelchair accessable house had made things easier for him. It was a lot easier to feel normal when he wasn't having to climb on stools and chairs to reach things. Being around Artie so much was nice as well. They had always been close, even more so after Artie's accident when they had bonded over mutual disablilties. He might not be technically disabled - he was just over the height limit for dwarfism - but it certainly felt like it and the two of them had both always felt a little less different around each other.

"Glad it's Friday?" Artie asked.

"Yeah, I guess. I'd be happier if we didn't have weekend homework though." he replied.

Artie laughed, "I think we all would. You're coming with to Rachel's party Saturday, right?" the other boy asked.

"Yeah, I'm still not sure why she's having a party though." he admitted.

"She's Rachel, you get used to it. She wants everything perfect and she says the party on Mike's birthday wasn't enough." his cousin replied with a shake of his head.

* * *

><p>Santana sighed as she threw her finished school work into the chair beside her bed. She was so sick of being sick. She might be in remission, but she was still stuck in the hospital. As much as she never thought that she would think it, all she wanted was to be back in school. She hated missing so much. No matter how much her friends tried to keep her in the loop, she still wasn't there on Mike's birthday and she still didn't get to do the Glee assignments that she secretly liked.<p>

There was a huge difference between just hearing about everything that happened and actually being there for it and she had never really appreciated that before. Being told about how Rory followed Finn and Kurt around like a puppy was only so amusing when she wasn't there to tease them about it and all the who-likes-who gossip wasn't the same when she couldn't see and judge it for herself. She wanted things to go back to normal. She wanted her life back.

Unfortunately, if she wanted to make sure that she didn't lose her life for good, she had to stay in the hospital. She had figured out that if she stayed healthy, she still might could salvage the last half of her senior year and so she was determined to be the best patient she could be, no matter how much she didn't feel like it. Her cancer was not going to ruin anything more then it had to. It could take her hair, it could take the first half of her senior year and most of her social life for several months, but she wasn't letting it take anything else.

She had kept up with all of her schoolwork and the long hours of boredom when she wasn't sick had actually meant that her grades were better then ever. She wouldn't be repeating the year, she'd be right on track when she could finally go back to school. She still had her friends and she still had Miles. She didn't think it was too likely that she be going back to the Cheerios, but she knew that her spot in New Directions was just waiting for her to come back.

She didn't need the popularity that being a Cheerio had brought her anyway. Leukemia had taught her that most of the people who used to look up to her didn't really care. She had gotten plenty of 'Get Well Soon' cards at first, but as time wore on, the only people who ever came to visit were the other New Directions members and a couple of the Cheerio's she had known for the last four years. It was one of the many life lessons that had come with having cancer, but the more she thought about, she supposed that it was good to know who her real friends were and truthfully, she was lucky to have so many.

* * *

><p>Finn sighed as he walked through the halls of McKinley. It seemed like everywhere he went, people were talking about their futures, what colleges they had applied to and what they would be studying. It was starting to drive him just a little bit crazy. He didn't have a clue what he wanted to do yet. All he knew was that he wanted to be with his girlfriend and his brother and they wanted to be in New York. He supposed that by default, that meant he was going to New York too, but he had yet to figure out anything beyond that.<p>

The problem was, that he also knew that Kurt and Rachel wouldn't be going to New York for another year. Applying to schools in New York would mean being alone in a different state for a year and he wasn't sure he liked the thought of that. He was also beginning to realize that with the lack of focus he had put on his schoolwork, he might not make it into a college in New York. He didn't know why this hadn't all occured to him earlier. It had just always seemed to be so far away until it wasn't.

Suddenly though, it was just a matter of months before he had to know. There wasn't even a full year left. He was a Senior and there wasn't anymore time to waste. He had to figure things out and he had to figure them out now. He just wished that he had some idea of where to start.

"Hey, man!" Puck called from down the hall.

Finn turned around and the waited for his friend to catch up to him, "Hey, Puck."

"What were you thinking about? You usually only look that serious when you've gone into 'Big Brother' mode. Is Kurt okay?" Puck questioned.

"What? Yeah, Kurt's fine." Finn responed.

"Is it Rory, then?" Puck asked, looking slightly confused.

"No, they're both fine. I was ... just thinking. Don't you have to be at your math class today, I though you said their was a text?" Finn asked, quickly changing the subject.

Puck cursed under his breath, "I'll talk to you later!" he said before rushing off to his class at the other end of the building just as Finn reached his classroom.

* * *

><p>Sarah yawned as she sat in her English class. She had finished her assingment long before much of the rest of the class had and between boredom and the lack of sleep the night before, she was very close to falling asleep on her desk. Locking herself in her room had done nothing to prevent her from hearing the screaming fight between her mother and brother that had lasted well into the night. Puck seemed to be pretending that the fight never happened, but she had caught him yawning that morning as well.<p>

She didn't have a clue what the fight had been about. It wasn't far enough into the school year to be about grades and Puck hadn't seemed to get into any trouble lately. Then again, the older she got, the more she realized that her mother might not always have a good reason for her outbursts. Especially when Sarah had found empty bottles in the kitchen.

The only thing that she did know was that the moment their mother had started, Puck has ushered her into her room and she had spent the rest of the night trying to ignore the yelling and the occasional crash. That had always been how it went though. When the yelling started to get bad, Puck had always gotten her out of the room, even it that made their mother even angrier. He was just as protective of her at home as he was in public.

"Are you bored as well?" Rory asked, interupting her thoughts.

"Yeah, I swear some people in this school can barely even read." she replied.

"There do seem to be a lot of people having trouble with this. It's not really my best subject, but Kurt's been helping me." he said.

"That's good. Puck helps me with math sometimes, but nobody's supposed to know that." she whispered back.

"Isn't that the class he says he never goes to?" Rory asked, confused.

"Yeah, I don't understand his reasoning either." Sarah replied with a soft laugh.

* * *

><p>Artie grinned as he saw Brittany walking towards him, but his grin quickly faltered when he spotted the look on her face.<p>

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I need to talk to you." she said seriously.

"Okay." Artie said carefully.

That phrase combinded with the look on her face didn't sound good. He wracked his brain to try and figure out if he had done anything to upset her, but he couldn't think of anything.

"You know that I'm going to be famous some day." she began, causing Artie to give a confused nod, "Well, I've been doing research. To really be famous now, you need to be able to sing, dance and _act_." she said gravely, "I've never acted before and I have to fix that."

"Do you need need me to help you?" Artie asked.

"That's the problem." Brittany replied, "I really have to focus on my acting, because I've decided that I need be an actress first so that when I show everyone I can sing and dance too, they'll see how awesome I am and I'll be even more famous!"

"Why is that a problem?" Artie questioned his girlfriend carefully.

Brittany gave a sad sigh before replying, "Because I can't focus on other things too! I have to act! I'm sorry, Artie ... we have to break up. Please don't be mad, I just don't have time to have a boyfriend if I'm going to show everyone that I'm awesome." she said before kissing him on the cheek and walking away.

Artie wasn't sure he'd ever been quite so confused. He knew that Brittany had decided to be famous, but he truely wasn't expecting his girlfriend who had never shown the slightest interest in acting to break up with him to become an actress. He wheeled off to see if he could find someone who understood what had just happened better then he did.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I hope that this is okay! I still don't have my beta back (if anyone would be interested in helping me there, it would be greatly appreciated) so I'm hoping I didn't make too many major mistakes. I know that things have been a little slow - but they'll be picking up in the next chapter. Next chapter is the first 'Major Event', it was hinted at in the promo pictures and I'll be curious to see if anyone guessed it!


	6. Chapter 6

Quinn was just about to head out the door when she heard her cell phone ringing. Sighing, she pulled it out of her purse to see who it was before shoving it back in her purse in annoyance. She didn't understand why he kept calling her. After a year of seeming to pretend he didn't have a daughter, as far as she was concerned, Russell Fabray wasn't her father anymore.

She was fine without him. Her mom had come back and let her have a place to live again, but he never had. She didn't need him anymore. She didn't need the man who had kicked her out of his life when she was fourteen, terrified and pregnant. She had her friends, she had Sam and she had Sam's family. She was just fine without her father.

When her phone beeped, she let out a soft growl, hoping her father hadn't figured out how to text. She face quickly dissolved into a grin when she saw that it was from Sam. _'I'm being sent to school with a present for you. Anna got a bracelet-making-thing. See you soon. Love you.' _Sam made up for everything bad in her life, in her opinion. She couldn't help but adore his foster siblings too.

In her opinion, Aiden's personality made him the cutest little boy she had ever seen and she loved that Anna had finally warmed up to her. Once she got past Anna's walls she had been able to discover a very sweet little girl. She was certain that Ellie was going to make a great addition to New Directions the next year as well. After growing up as the youngest child, she thought it was fun to spend time with Sam's siblings.

With a smile still on her face, she quickly grabbed the rest of her things to head out to school. She shoved all thoughts of her father firmly out of her mind as she walked out the door. She was going to see Sam and her friends and she was determined that it would be a good day without having to wonder what on earth her dad had decided he wanted. She wasn't going to let it be ruined.

* * *

><p>Mike's mind kept wandering back to the party at Rachel's house that weekend as he worked on the much-to-easy worksheet his teacher had assigned. He still couldn't believe that they had all done that for him, but sure enough, much of Saturday night had been spent in Rachel's basement with a ton of party games and endless karaoke. His mom had smiled the whole time as he told her about and kept going on about how proud she was that he had such good friends.<p>

He was still smiling to himself at the memory when he heard a knock at the classroom door. Looking up, he spotted Mrs Pillsbury-Howell in the window. He had barely even had time to wonder what she was doing there when his teacher opened the door and he saw that Mr. Schue was standing with her. Everything seemed to freeze. This was exactly what he had been told happened last year when Kurt's father had a heart attack. He didn't even have to hear his teacher call him over for his heart to drop into his stomach.

He took a shaky breath before standing and following them out into the hallway, "Is it my mom or is it Shawn?" he asked as he blinked back tears, terrified to hear the answer.

Mrs Pillsbury-Howell put a hand gently on his arm before responding, "Your mother was in a car accident this morning on her way to work." she began.

"But she's okay, right?" Mike interrupted desperately.

"Mike, honey, I'm so sorry. She didn't make it." the woman said.

She hadn't even finished her sentence when a sob found its way out of his throat and he slid down the wall into the floor. His whole world had just been ripped out from under him and he wasn't even aware of Mr. Schue kneeling in front of him with his hand on his shoulder as he tried to calm him down. He couldn't imagine a world without his mother. It was so wrong and it should never have been possible, he didn't even know what to do.

"Mike? Mike?" Mr. Schue called, and he finally looked up at the man, "You're going to be okay. We're going to be hear for you, alright. You are not alone in this."

He wiped a hand across his eyes and took another shaky breath as he tried to calm himself down, "Shawn ... does Shawn know?" he managed to say.

"He hasn't been told yet." the counselor said softly, "His school thought that it might be best coming from you."

Mike nodded, "I'm all he's got now." he said, "He's all I've got." he added softly, once again wiping away tears.

"Is there a family member we could contact for you?" Mr. Schue asked.

"No. No. Our dad's in jail ... grandparents are dead. Our parents were only children. My mom's got some second cousins but ... it was just us." he said before taking another shaky breath and pulling himself off of the floor, "I can't believe she's gone..."

"Is there anyone you can stay with?" Mrs Pillsbury-Howell questioned.

"No. I'm eighteen. We'll ... we'll be fine. She told me she wanted him to stay with me if anything ever happened but I ... I never thought it would." Mike managed to say.

The two adults shared a look before the woman spoke again, "I can take you to your brother's school so you can tell him if you would like." she offered.

"Thank you." Mike replied numbly, he didn't think he'd be up to driving after the news he had just gotten. He wasn't sure he'd ever really be up to driving again.

"Okay ... you go with Emma and I'll let the others know what's happened for you." Mr. Schue said carefully as if he wasn't quite sure what to say anymore.

As soon as Mike nodded, they headed off in their separate ways as Mike robotically followed Mrs Pillsbury-Howell to her car and tried to imagine how he would possibly explain this to his brother.

* * *

><p>Sam walked through the halls of McKinley as he headed for his next class. He gently patted his pocket to make sure he hadn't lost anything and couldn't help but grin when he felt the bracelet. He had already given Quinn hers, but what he hadn't told his girlfriend in the text was that Anna had made him a matching one. He had been sure to wear it until they dropped the younger kids off at school, but then it had gone straight into his pocket. He loved the little girl, but he wasn't quite willing to give the school bullies another reason to tempt fate.<p>

He had nearly made his way to his class when he spotted Mr. Schue walking towards him and instantly realized something was wrong, "What happened?" Sam asked his teacher nervously.

"Sam!" the man exclaimed, "I can't miss my next class and I need you to let the others know. Mike isn't going to be in school for the rest of the day." he began.

"Is he sick?" Sam asked, worried for Mike and trying to push images of another hospitalized friend out of his mind.

"No ... Mike's mom was killed in a car accident this morning. Emma just took him to go tell his brother. They'll let her leave to help him because she's the counselor, but I've got to stay here." closing his eyes briefly in what Sam assumed was frustration for not being able to do more to help.

"I - wow." Sam said, shocked, "Um, I'll try and let the others know. Poor Mike..." he managed to say as his mind seemed to spin in shock.

Mr. Schue nodded before walking off and Sam leaned against the wall as he tried to make sense of everything. He knew people who had lost parents. Finn's father was dead and so was Kurt's mom, it was why Ellie had ended up in foster care before the Turner's adopted her and he had known a few kids throughout his life who had been placed in a home with him - usually temporarily - due to the death of a parent. However, even with all of that, he had never known someone when it happened. He had never been there when a friend suddenly lost someone so close to them and he wasn't really sure what to do.

Sam knew what it was like to feel alone, to not have parents and to feel like you didn't have any adults to really rely on, but he knew that this was different. He hadn't had a good mother, and he hadn't lost her to death. Mike's mother had been amazing. Everyone who knew her seemed to love her and now she was gone so suddenly and they would never see her again. Mike would never see her again. It was hard to process. Memories of Mike's mother chaperoning him and Quinn around New York were swirling in his mind and he had to fight back tears.

He looked up suddenly, realizing the bell was about to ring and took a deep breath before walking into his classroom. He had to figure out how he was going to start telling the others. Someone was going to have to tell Tina. Suddenly, he had the feeling that he wouldn't be learning anything in school that day.

* * *

><p>Mike stared numbly out of the window of the car as they made their way to his school. He watched the trees go by as he tried to imagine a world without his mother. He wondered where the accident had happened, where his mother had lost her life and if they would have to drive past it to get to Shawn's school. The thought of seeing the spot where his mother had died suddenly made him feel once again like someone had punched him in the stomach. It still seemed so impossible.<p>

There was no way his mother could really be gone. She had always been there. She had spent her life doing everything she could for her sons and Mike had always known that she loved him. No matter how crazy things had gotten in his life, he had always had his mother. And now he was being told that he didn't. How could she be dead when he had just seen her a few hours ago? How could her life end so fast? How could his whole world change that suddenly? It just didn't make any sense.

"We're here, Mike." Mrs Pillsbury-Howell said gently, jolting him out of his thoughts as he looked up and saw his brothers school.

"I don't know if I can do this." he admitted in a shaky voice.

"I'll be here to help." the counselor said as she stepped out of her car, waiting for Mike to do the same before she spoke again, "I was told that Shawn was waiting in the office."

Mike simply nodded, still trying to figure out how this had happened, how he had ended up in this strange world where his mother wasn't there anymore. He still didn't know how he was going to tell Shawn. He ran through conversations in his head as they walked through the halls but no matter how many different words he thought of, there just wasn't any good way to say that their mother was dead. There wasn't any way to tell his brother that was going to make it hurt any less. She was gone no matter how he said it.

As they stepped into the office he saw his brother sitting in a chair, looking terrified with tears in his eyes. He knew that just like he had, Shawn realized this couldn't be anything good. There was never a good reason to be pulled out of class like that and he knew that it had to have been horrible when no one would tell Shawn what happened. He began to wonder if he should have just let someone else tell him.

"Mike!" the younger boy cried, jumping out his chair and running to his brother, hugging him instantly.

If he hadn't known how scared Shawn had been, it would have shocked him to see his brother acting that way. Shawn was usually so determined to prove how grown-up he was that he would never hugged his brother in public. Knowing what was happening, Mike simply wrapped his arms around his brother as well, hugging him a little tighter before breaking the news.

"She's gone, Shawn. There was an accident ... and ... and mom died. She's gone." he managed to say before losing the battle with his own tears again.

"No, no." the younger boy said through his sobs as his brother did his best to comfort him.

Mike knew that there was no fighting his own tears anymore, but he was determined not to lose his composure in front of the workers in the office that he could feel staring at him. With a sudden jolt he realized that the thirteen year crying in his arms was now his complete responsibility. He had said it before, but it hadn't hit him yet. He was really the only one that Shawn had anymore. His mother was gone and he was going to have to raise his little brother. He quickly led Shawn back to the chairs, because he suddenly felt a little too unsure on his feet.

* * *

><p>Mercedes shot a worried look at Sam as she waited for the class to end. He was the only one of her friends that she shared that class with and he had clearly been upset since he walked in. After everything that had happened with Sam the year before, an upset Sam was a very good reason to worry in her opinion. None of them wanted a repeat of the day that Sam had collapsed in the choir room. She tapped her pencil against her desk, hoping it wasn't anything serious.<p>

When the class was finally dismissed she made her way over to Sam as quickly as she could, "What's wrong, Sam?" she asked.

Sam took a deep breath before answering, "Mike's mom died this morning."

Mercedes felt her mouth drop open. That was the last thing she had expected to hear, "What?" she asked in shock.

"Mr. Schue said there was a car accident. She was killed." he said before sighing and leaning against the wall, "He said that Mrs Pillsbury-Howell took him to tell his brother. I'm supposed to start letting everyone know."

"What are we going to do? How do we help him?" she asked her friend.

"I don't know. Can you ... can you just help me tell the others right now? I don't know if I can find them all. Maybe we can figure something out in Glee later." he said.

"I can do that. I just can't believe this." Mercedes replied.

"Me either." Sam said sadly before walking off.

Mercedes put her hand to her mouth for a moment still trying to comprehend what had happened. She couldn't believe that her friend had just lost his mother. She didn't know what to do. When Kurt's father had a heart attack, at least she had been able to hope and pray for him to recover, but Mike's mother was _gone_. She wasn't sure how they could make that any better. She stepped out into the hallway to look for her friends and froze on the spot when the first person she spotted was Tina and she clearly didn't know what had happened.

"Mercedes!" Tina said as she walked over to her friend, "Have you seen Mike? I can't find him."

There was silence for a moment and all Mercedes could think was that she wished she wasn't the one who had to do it, "Mike's not in school right now." she started.

"Of course he is, I saw him this morning." Tina replied, looking confused.

"Tee ... his mom died. Mrs Pillsbury-Howell took him to tell Shawn." Mercedes said softly.

Tina seemed to freeze for a moment before bursting into tears. Mercedes pulled her friend into a hug before reaching up to wipe away her own tears. From the way Sam had talked, they still had a lot of people to tell and she had a feeling it wasn't going to get any easier. It was going to be a really, really long day.

* * *

><p>Artie looked around the choir room, there wasn't a dry eye amung the girls and Finn was alternating between comforting his girlfriend and his brother even though Artie thought he was looking like he could use someone to comfort him. Everyone was talking, exchanging ideas of what they could do to try and help Mike. Everyone except Miles. At first he thought that it was just because Miles was newer to New Directions and didn't know Mike as well, but Rory, Sarah and Justin had all joined the group. Justin even seemed to letting his guard down slightly as he joined in on the discussion. Artie made a mental note to see if Santana knew what was up with Miles later.<p>

As soon as he had that thought his eyes widened, "Has anyone told Santana?" he asked.

"I texted her." Quinn replied, "She said that she wished she wasn't stuck in the hospital because nobody deserves this. I think that meant that she wishes she could help too."

With that settled the conversation quickly turned back to Mike just as Mr. Schue walked into the room, "I'm guessing that everyone heard about Mrs. Chang." he said sadly after shutting the door.

"Do you know if he's okay? He's not answering his phone." Tina said as she wiped tears away from her eyes.

"Emma called me a few minutes ago. Shawn has been told and they're at home, she took the rest of the day of to stay with them. She said that Mike's been trying to calm Shawn down." he said, "It might be good if some of you could talk to your parents about staying with them - or letting them stay with you, neither of us think Mike and Shawn should be alone tonight."

"We'll stay with them." Finn said, nodding at his brother as he spoke, "We talked about it earlier. Our parents will let us - they might want to come with us actually."

"That's good. He's going to need a lot of help guys, they don't really have any other family and you're going to have to be kind of friends I know you can be, because Mike and Shawn will both need it." the teacher said.

"What can we do, Mr. Schue?" Artie asked, hoping that the adult would see something that they had been missing.

"He may need some help planning the funeral and he's probably going to need help getting used handling everything without his mother there to help - especially with Shawn. Emma says that his mother had a will and she named Mike as Shawn's guardian. But mostly, he's just going to need us all to be there for him and I know we can do that." Mr. Schue replied.

"We should stay with them for a while, we could take turns if need be, but they don't need to be alone, even if they say they want to be." Kurt said softly.

Artie thought back to the previous year and remembered how devastated Kurt had been when his father was only in a coma. He knew that Carole and Finn had stayed with Kurt until Burt had been able to come home from the hospital and he thought that Kurt probably knew better then any of them what Mike would need, not only because of that, but because Kurt remembered what had happened when his own mother had died.

They didn't get any singing done that afternoon. There were a lot of phone calls made in the choir as Rachel pulled out a notebook and began making lists of who would stay with the Changs when and who would bring food as well as list of any and all ideas that the group came up with. They were determined to help Mike in any and every way they could.

* * *

><p>After calling their parents, all of New Directions had split into groups and headed for the Chang house. Tina sniffled again as she leaned against the window in the back seat of Kurt's car. She hadn't really managed to stop crying since Mercedes had given her the news. She had been dating Mike for over a year and she had really loved his mother, not to mention the fact that she couldn't even imagine what her boyfriend was going through. Mike and Shawn were alone now except for their friends and she couldn't imagine that.<p>

They pulled into the driveway with the others not far behind them and Kurt turned around in his seat to look at Tina, "Come on, we need to go in. He'll want to see you." he said.

Tina sighed and nodded as she climbed out of the car and made her way to the door as the next group pulled in behind them. Finn stepped forward and knocked on the door. As they waited for someone to answer, several of the others filed in behind them. None of them knew quite what to say, but they had all wanted to be there for Mike.

The door finally opened and Mrs Pillsbury-Howell was standing in front of them, "They're in the living room." she said softly and Tina made a beeline for her boyfriend.

She stepped into the room to find Mike sitting on the couch with a tearstained face as Shawn leaned against him with tears still rolling down his cheeks. She instant sat down beside them and wrapped her arms around both brothers. She wished that she could do something to take their pain away.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." she whispered as hugged them.

As soon as Mike saw the others walk in he pulled away and wiped at his face before standing up, "Um ... thank you guys for coming." he said softly as all of his friends seemed to file into his living room along with Mr. Schue.

Shawn moved towards Tina who simply pulled him closer in an attempt to comfort the younger boy as she watched and listened what the others were saying. She knew that if Shawn was willing to hug her in front of all of them, he needed it and she wasn't going to move as long as he wanted her there. The last year of dating Mike had made her very close with Shawn as well as Mrs. Chang and she was glad the boy did trust her enought to let her comfort him.

"I'm so sorry, Mike." Kurt said softly, "I know how hard this is and I wouldn't have wished it on anyone."

Mike nodded and one by one the rest of his friends came forward to offer their condolences and in the case of the girls, hug him. Once he had greeted them all, he sat back down next to Tina and Shawn and the others sat down as well, mostly on the floor. Shawn got up and moved to sit on Tina's other side and she assumed that was because he knew that his brother need comforting as well. She scooted closer to her boyfriend and did her best to offer silent comfort to both boys.

"Have you contacted your mom's friends, or the cousins you mentioned? I can go do that if you haven't." Mr. Schue offered.

"I called one of her cousins and her best friend, they're telling the rest." Mike replied sounding heartbreakingly numb in Tina's opinion.

There wasn't much said, but there wasn't much to say. No words could change what had happened or make it any better. All that they could do was just be there for Mike in the most basic way they could. All they could do was just hope that their friend would be able to get through this.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>There you go! That was the first big chapter with the first really big twist. I'm sorry it took so long to get out, but hopefully the next one should be posted sooner! I really hope that you guys liked this. I've had some of these scenes in my head for so long that I had a ton of different versions of then and it took a while to decide which to really use. There will be Sam and Quinn date coming up fairly soon, so don't worry, I haven't forgotten them!


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days had gone by in a blur for all of New Directions. The whole group had spent every available moment trying to help Mike and his brother. Tina had gone to the grocery store for them, Artie had brought over a new video game for Shawn in an attempt to give the young boy something else to focus on other than his mother's death, Sam, Quinn and Mercedes had been helping Kurt and Carole to cook for the brothers as well as the Hummel-Hudson family who had temporarily moved in and the rest had been trying to help with the funeral planning.

As Kurt began starting breakfast in the kitchen he was slowly becoming used to, he couldn't help his thoughts from traveling back to the funeral of his own mother when he was eight years old. He had been so young, barely even old enough to understand exactly what death meant but he remembered spending the entire day in tears. He would never forget the sight of his mother so still in the coffin. He hated that his friend was about to have to go through the same thing. The loss of parent was something he would never wish on his worst enemy.

He wished that there was something more that they could do for Mike and Shawn, but Kurt knew more than most people that there wasn't, they had lost their mother and nothing would make that better. All they could do was be there for them and try to help them adjust to a life without her as best as they could. They would help Mike with food until he was comfortable handling cooking for himself and his brother on his own, they would help him take care of Shawn and be there to listen if he needed it. It felt like so little, but it was all they could do.

He was just starting on the pancakes when Carole stepped into the kitchen to help. She gave her stepson a weak smile before beginning to cut up some fruit to go with their meal. They both knew that it would be a miracle if they got Mike and Shawn to eat anything at all that day, but they were still going to try. It was going to be a long day and funeral's weren't easy things to get through.

"Are they awake yet?" Kurt asked Carole, referring to the Chang Brothers as he had poked Finn awake on his way into the kitchen earlier when Rory had told him that he hadn't been able to wake the other boy up.

"They are." She said as she placed the fruit on the table, "Mike's going over the eulogy again and Burt and Rory are helping Shawn find the tie that he said was his mom's favorite."

"And Finn?" Kurt asked while pouring the last few pancakes onto the small griddle, hoping his brother hadn't fallen back asleep.

"Texting the others to make sure they're awake." His stepmother replied.

Almost as soon as she had spoken, Finn stepped into the kitchen with his cell phone in his hand, "Everybody's up and getting ready." He explained before eyeing the food, "I'll go tell them it's almost done." He added before stepping out of the room.

Kurt nodded and the turned his attention back to the pancakes to flip them. It was a Friday, but none of them would be going to school, even Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury-Howell had taken the day off. In just a couple of hours, they would all be on the way to the funeral home. It was time to say their final goodbyes to Mrs. Chang.

* * *

><p>Rachel looked in the mirror as she tried on the third dress of the morning. It was only proper to wear black to a funeral, but she had four different black dresses and she couldn't decide which one was the most appropriate for the funeral of a woman who she hadn't known well, but was the mother of a close friend. From the few times she had seen Mike's mother, Rachel knew that she had been a wonderful woman and she hoped that they had been able to plan the kind of funeral that she deserved.<p>

They had tried to involve Mike and Shawn in every aspect of the planning, but they had been too devastated to do much more then tell them that their mother's favorite flower had been carnations and to approve what the rest of the group came up with. It had been up to the other members of New Directions to find a funeral home and graveyard and to order the flowers, but she knew that the Hummel-Hudson's had taken the boys to choose a casket and headstone.

Rachel had suggested that Mike and Shawn sing a duet at the funeral, but both boys had quickly turned down that option and Kurt had quietly reminded her that it would likely be hard for them to keep any composure at all while singing. When her next suggestion of a solo by her had been shot down by the others, she had decided to agree with a group song. The main problem had been deciding on which song to sing. Someone had managed to find something wrong with every song suggested until Miles had spoken up and offered a song that even though the others hadn't been sure about, Mike had said was the right one.

After deciding that the dress she had on would work for the occasion, Rachel sent out a text to the rest of the group announcing that she was ready and suggesting that they try to meet at the funeral home a little early to run over the chosen song one last time. Once she had finished with that, she placed her cellphone into the little black handbag she had pulled out and headed downstairs to see if her parents were ready to leave yet.

* * *

><p>Finn sighed as he looked out window of Kurt's car. They were on the way to the funeral home just behind their parents who were driving Mike and Shawn. He hated that there wasn't anything he could do to help his friend. He had lost a parent too, but he had been too young to remember. He knew what it was like to not have a parent, but he didn't really know what it was like to lose one. Kurt and his parents seemed to know what to say to Mike and his brother, and he felt like an idiot because he didn't know what to do.<p>

"What do I say to them, Kurt?" he asked his brother.

"What do you mean?" Kurt replied, keeping his eyes carefully and nervously on the road as all of them had since Monday.

"You know what to say and stuff so it doesn't sound stupid or upset them. I don't." Finn tried to explain.

"Just … think about it before you say it." Kurt advised, "I know you don't remember when your dad died but just try not to say anything you wouldn't have wanted someone to say to you about your dad. They really just need friends, Finn."

"Yeah, I guess." He replied, "I just wish I could fix this or something."

"So do I." Kurt responded softly before the two brothers fell back into silence as they drove.

It wasn't long before they were at the funeral home and Finn tried his best not to be creeped out that there were dead bodies in the building in front of him. He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind as he reminded himself that one of those bodies was Mike's mother. Kurt parked the car next to where their parents had parked and Finn walked over to where Mike was standing staring at the funeral home. He put a gentle hand on Mike's shoulder before changing his mind and pulling the other boy into a half-hug.

"It's gonna be alright, man. I know this sucks, but we're all here for you and it'll be alright." He said in an attempt at comforting his friend.

"I hope so." Mike said softly before beginning to walk inside.

* * *

><p>Lauren pulled up in front of Puck's house and sent him a quick text to let him know she was there. He had called the night before to say that his truck was broken and ask if she could drive them to the funeral and she agreed, not even thinking to ask what was wrong with the truck. No, sitting in the driveway, she eyed the damage with a confused expression on her face, the only damage looked to be on the windshield and one side-mirror. It looked more like someone had taken a baseball bat to it then there having been an accident. Of course, if Puck had been in an accident, she was fully prepared to spend the next hour yelling at him. After what had happened to Mike mom, they had all promised to be extra careful.<p>

She was about to get out and knock when Puck finally came to the door with Sarah close behind him carrying a cake plate. He shut the door quickly and headed towards the car, climbing into the passenger's seat while Sarah got into the back.

"Sorry, Ma's not feeling good." He explained as he put on his seat belt, looking behind him to make sure Sarah had as well.

Lauren gave a small smile to herself about his protective tendency's with his sister before reminding herself about the strange damage to his truck, "What happened?" she asked nodding in the direction of the truck before she began to drive.

There was a small pause before she saw him shrug out of the corner of her eye, "Don't know. Just … came out and found it like that last night. Guess somebody's got a grudge against the Puckasaurus for being so awesome." He said.

She knew that something didn't seem quite right with that explanation and the way he said it, but after a moment she decided that it wasn't the time to get into that. The important thing now was making it to the funeral home and being there to support Mike and his little brother. As crazy as her family was, she couldn't imagine losing any of them. As tough as she was in public, she still felt like her heart was going to break for her friend.

"You guys remember the song and everything right?" she asked, "Cause it's not going to be pretty if it's not perfect when Rachel has us practice and the last thing we need is more chaos."

"Yeah, we know it. We ran through it a few times on the way home yesterday." Puck replied.

"I made cookies last night, for after all this." Sarah commented after a few moments of silence, explaining the container in her lap, "Just wanted to do something."

"I know what you mean." Lauren replied, "I was tempted to make a cake or something and I've never baked in my life." She added, causing her boyfriend and his sister to laugh softly.

* * *

><p>Santana carefully reached up to make sure her wig was on correctly as she looked into her compact mirror. She'd had to fight her parents tooth and nail, but they had finally agreed to let her go to the funeral. She knew that even though she was in remission, she wouldn't be back in school until the consolidation therapy was over and though she had given up on that fight, she had desperately wanted to be there for Mike. She hadn't always been the nicest person, but she was trying to do better and she wanted Mike to know that she cared.<p>

She had spent the last few months miserable in the hospital or at home dealing with the chemo, and while a small part of her was happy to just be somewhere else for once, she desperately wished that this wasn't the reason. She might not have the best relationship with her parents, but it had always been clear that Mike was close with his mother. She knew that her being there wouldn't make it better, but she hoped that maybe she could at least be a little comfort, even if she wasn't really the comforting type.

She stepped out of the car and spotted Miles standing outside, obviously waiting on her. He was the only who knew that she was coming, because she had been afraid to tell the others in case her parents backed out at the last minute. Miles quickly headed for her and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're here." He said before greeting her parents and heading inside with his arm around her.

The crowd inside was only just starting to head inside the room and the other Glee club members headed over to give her a quick hug before pulling her inside to sit with them. She noticed Mike and his brother sitting in the front row with Tina next to Mike and, oddly enough, Sam's little sister next to Shawn. She headed straight for Mike, ignoring her parents who were still hovering nearby.

"I'm so sorry, Mike." She said sincerely as he stood up to greet her before she gently hugged him, "I wish there was something I could do."

"I'm just glad you're here." He said, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, but this isn't about me." She said, not wanting to take the focus, "I know I didn't see her much, but your mom was really great." She told him.

"I know." He replied softly before sitting back down with his brother and Tina.

She moved back to take her seat with Miles in the row behind Mike, noting that the front rows on Mike's side were filled with New Directions members with the rows behind them containing a few football team members and most of the band. The other side of the room, she assumed held his mother's friends, members of their church and the few cousins that Mike had mentioned. That side of the room was packed.

"I hate funerals." Miles said softly as the preacher made his way to the front.

* * *

><p>Rory found himself sat between Sarah and Carole Hummel as the funeral began. He was new to the group and he hadn't known Mike well before his mother had died, but he had spent the last few days staying at the other boys house since neither Chang brother had wanted to leave it to stay with the Hudson-Hummels and he genuinely felt bad for both boys. He had never been to a funeral before and he didn't know what exactly to expect, but he did know that he wanted to be there for his new friends.<p>

He knew that the Hudson-Hummels would likely be going back to their house after the weekend but there had been talk about the Glee members taking turns staying with Mike and Shawn after that. Though he would be glad to be sleeping on a bed again instead of a couch, he hoped they would have someone with them for a little while longer as neither boy seemed to be functioning very well yet.

He listened carefully as the preacher began to talk about Alice Chang and he thought that she really must have been a wonderful lady. He knew that Mike had wanted to say something after this man was done and he hoped that the other boy would be able to say what he wanted too without breaking down. He knew how embarrassing it was to really cry in public.

The man told them all about how long she had attended his church, how she had taught children's Sunday School classes and what a good job she had done raising her sons. He talked for several minutes before moving on to what Rory thought sounded more like a general funeral speech. Once the man finally stepped away, he saw Tina gently squeeze Mike's hand before he moved to make his way to the front of the room, standing behind his mother's casket.

There were already tears in his eyes when he began to speak, "My mom was amazing." He began, "She raised us on her own, our dad wasn't there and there really wasn't any other family near us. She could have decided that she just couldn't do everything for us on her own, but she didn't. She worked constantly to make sure that we had the best childhoods possible. She took us to baseball and football practice, and dance lessons when we asked. She came to every game, every concert, every competition. She made birthdays and Christmas really great for us, even if she had to work overtime for a month or two to do it. She was the best mom we could have ever asked for." He said, his voice breaking a little before he continued, "But she wasn't just a great mom, she was a wonderful person. She loved every kid in her Sunday School class, she would even make something for them on Christmas or their birthdays – a little pillow, or a keychain, sometimes a bracelet for the girls. She really cared about all of them. She cared about everyone around her. Everyone she met loved her. She was amazing." He repeated before seeming to run out of words, "I'm really going to miss her." He added, his voice breaking again before he headed back to his seat.

Rory watched as Tina pulled him into a hug and Sam reached over to pat him on the shoulder. He wished that he was close enough to give some kind of comfort to his friend. After hearing that speech though, he didn't think anything would really be much comfort for Mike right now.

* * *

><p>As New Directions stood up and made their way to the front of the room, Sarah desperately wanted to break away from the group and just hug Mike and Shawn but she forced herself to follow her brother. She stepped into position and as the music started she reached up to wipe away the tears in her eyes and looked at Tina, who was crying as well and hoped that she could make it through the song, Tina had known Mrs. Chang better than any of them.<p>

As Sarah watched, Tina took a deep breath and seemed to prepare herself to hold her emotions back as much as possible until the song was over, with that done, the other girl opened the song with her solo lines.

"_Hey there now _

_Where'd you go_

_You left me here so unexpected_

_You changed my life_

_I hope you know_

_Cause now I'm lost_

_So unprotected"_

As soon as Tina finished her opening lines, the rest of the group joined in, singing the chorus with tears in their eyes. Tears for the woman they had met and tears for her sons, their friends.

"_In a blink of an eye_

_I never got to say goodbye_

_Like a shooting star_

_Flyin' across the room_

_So fast so far_

_You were gone too soon_

_You're part of me_

_And I'll never be_

_The same here without you_

_You were gone too soon"_

As the group had decided to give the other solos to the other members who had lost a parent, Kurt took the beginning of the next verse and her heart broke even more at the look on Mike and Shawn's faces as they listened to the song.

"_You were always there_

_And like shining light_

_On my darkest days_

_You were there to guide me"_

Finn picked up right after his brother on the next lines and Sarah forced herself to look away from Mike and Shawn, knowing that if she watched him while she sang, she would only end up choking herself up.

"_Oh I miss you now_

_I wish you could see_

_Just how much your memory_

_Will always mean to me"_

With the last solo part finished the group joined together again on the chorus. Sarah looked at the others watching them, a sea of faces with tears in their eyes and she desperately hoped she wouldn't have to sing at another funeral for a very long time.

"_In a blink of an eye_

_I never got to say goodbye_

_Like a shooting star_

_Flyin' across the room_

_So fast so far_

_You were gone too soon_

_You're part of me_

_And I'll never be_

_The same here without you_

_You were gone too soon"_

The New Directions finished out the song and as the other mourners politely clapped through their tears, Sarah, along with several of the other girls, burst into tears. It wasn't fair for Mike and Shawn to have lost their mother. But then again, Sarah had learned a long time ago that life wasn't fair.

* * *

><p>Looking back on it, Mike had no idea how he even made it through the service. As he walked back into his house, he realized that he barely even remembered most of the burial. Just the horrible sight of watching the casket lowered into the ground. He hadn't wanted to leave until it was done, until she was buried.<p>

It all seemed so surreal. It just shouldn't be possible that his mother was really gone. He still felt like she should just walk in from the other room, or that he would wake up and she'd be sitting in the dining room sipping from a cup of coffee with breakfast waiting for him and Shawn. He couldn't believe that he'd never wake up and see her sitting there again.

He sat down on the couch and Shawn sat down next to him, Shawn, who had barely even spoken in the last few days. How was he supposed to help him? There was no one else now. They were all the family each other had. He had to finish raising his brother and he had no idea how. How were they going to get through this? What were they even supposed to do now?

He looked up and managed to register that his friends and a few of his mother's closest friends and a couple of the cousins he's only met a few times were there in the house. He looked around and realized that there seemed to be an awful lot of food and he wasn't sure where it had come from. At the moment, he wasn't exactly sure he cared where it came from.

He wrapped an arm around Shawn and gave his little brother a quick hug before taking a deep breath. He was an adult now. He had to be the responsible one. He could break down once everyone left, but for the moment he had to go talk to the people who were in his house.

He was reluctant to walk away from Shawn until Sam's little sister came over to him, "Sam helped me make a cake. It's chocolate and it has chocolate chips on top, you said that was your favorite before." Ellie said before taking his hand and leading Shawn off to where the food was and Mike wondered if word had gotten to her that Shawn hadn't eaten much since their mother had died.

He spent the next few hours talking to relatives he barely knew and people who had been a lot closer to his mother then they had been to him. After what felt like forever, the only people left were the Hummel-Hudson's, Rory and Tina. He let himself sink back down to the couch and put his head in his hands. His mother was gone, she was buried and the funeral was official over. Now he had to find some way to move on.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Soooo ... I'm not dead! Life just kinda became ... chaos. I had writers block for a little while - mostly on that song and then we finally found out we were losing our house. I think someone hit the fast-forward button then, cause it seemed like we had a LOT less then two and a half months to pack. My dad put in the transfer to Tennessee, but we're still waiting on him getting called to work there, so we're living with my grandparents for now. It should hopefully only be for a few weeks though and then we're heading to Tennessee. Since mostly everything is still packed and in their basement ready to go, Move 2.0 won't be as chaotic and I SHOULD be able to get back on my weekly update schedule! I'm so sorry it's been so long guys, I honestly didn't even realize how long it had been. Long story short, I hope I still have readers and I hope you liked this chapter!

* The song was Gone Too Soon by Simple Plan.


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